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THE    DIARIES    OF   EDWARD    PEASE 


THE    DIARIES 


OF 


EDWARD    PEASE 


THE   FATHER   OF   ENGLISH    RAILWAYS 


EDITED    BY 

SIR    ALFRED     E.     PEASE,     BART. 


LONDON 

HEADLEY     BROTHERS 

BISHOPSGATE     STREET     WITHOUT     E.G. 

1907 


HEAIM.tY     BROTHERS 

PRINTERS 
LONDON   J      AND    ASHFORD,    KENT 


V 


I  dedicate  this  volume  to  my  eldest  son 

EDWARD  PEASE  born    1880 

the  senior  representative  in  the  latest  generation 

of  the  descendants  of  my  great-grandfather 

EDWARD  PEASE  born   1767 

Integer  vitae  scelerisqtie  purus 
non  eget  Mauris  jaculis  neque  arcu 
nee  venenatis  gravida  sagittis, 

Fusee  pharetra, 
sive  per  Syrtes  her  aestuosas 


ALFRED    EDWARD     PEASE 
Pinchinthorpe 
1907 


PREFACE. 


I  ORIGINALLY  intended  this  volume  should  be  a  private 
memorial  of  the  life  and  opinions  of  Edward  Pease. 
The  introductory  essay  on  Quakerism  was  an  attempt 
to  set  forth  the  general  meaning  of  Quakerism  in  his 
day,  and  of  the  peculiar  system  which  developed, 
influenced  and  restrained  his  character.  I  have 
been  persuaded  to  allow  this  book  a  wider  circulation, 
in  spite  of  the  style  being  little  adapted  to  public 
taste.  The  serious  and  tame  records  of  an  old  time 
Quaker's  life  seem  hardly  likely  to  interest  many 
outside  the  Society  of  Friends.  I  have  hesitated 
before  placing  my  prosy  old  ancestor  in  the  public 
stocks,  perhaps  to  be  pelted  by  scoffers  and  critics. 
Yet  Edward  Pease's  life,  however  uneventful,  narrow 
and  peculiar  it  may  seem,  was  devoted  to  his  conception 
of  his  duty  to  his  God  and  to  his  neighbour.  His 
public  services,  however  small  the  value  he  desired 
to  have  placed  on  them,  entitle  him  to  kindly  treatment 
by  that  great  public  who  reap  the  fruits  of  his  labours. 
For  myself  I  am  satisfied  if  the  object  of  placing  on 
record  a  truthful  account  of  Edward  Pease  and  of 


8  PREFACE. 

the  singular  system  he  supported  and  defended,  is 
in  the  opinion  of  his  descendants  faithfully  accom 
plished.  Quakerism  must  be  judged  by  its  fruits. 
It  is  not  for  me  to  say  whether  its  professors  did  their 
share  towards  alleviating  the  lot  of  suffering  humanity, 
increasing  the  true  happiness  and  virtue  of  mankind, 
and  diminishing  hatred  and  strife.  If  the  verdict 
be  in  its  favour,  it  may  induce  a  course  of  reflection, 
leading  some  of  my  readers  to  find  that  this  faith, 
divested  of  human  imperfections,  is  anything  but  con 
temptible,  and  its  old  professors,  not  altogether 
ridiculous. 

In  the  quoted  passages  throughout  this  volume 
the  original  spelling,  as  well  as  the  old  fashioned 
indiscrimate  use  of  capital  letters,  has  been  generally 
adhered  to.  In  the  original  diaries  the  date  headings 
are  printed  and  this  explains  the  absence  of  the  Quaker 
names  of  months  and  days  in  the  extracts  from  the 
Journals.  This  is  my  reply  to  the  otherwise  reasonable 
criticism  made  by  one  who  knew  Edward  Pease  : 
"  It  would  have  set  the  good  old  man's  teeth  on  edge 
to  see  '  Sunday  25th  February '  in  his  Journal." 

Messrs.  Headley  Brothers  have  given  me  every 
assistance,  and  my  grateful  acknowledgment  is 
especially  due  to  the  firm's  Literary  Manager,  Mr.  S. 
Graveson,  who  has,  at  all  times  and  in  the  kindest 
manner,  given  me  the  advantage  of  his  advice  and 
experience. 


CONTENTS. 


II. 

1838 

Ill 

1839  - 

IV. 

1840 

V. 

1841 

VI. 

1842 

VII. 

1843 

VIII. 

1844 

IX. 

1845  - 

X. 

1846 

XI. 

1847  - 

XII. 

1848 

XIII. 

1849 

XIV. 

1850 

XV. 

1851 

PAGE 


INTRODUCTORY    ESSAY  ON  QUAKERISM       -  i 

BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES  OF  EDWARD   PEASE  AND 

OF  RACHEL  HIS  WIFE  43 

THE  DIARIES  OF  EDWARD  PEASE  : — 

INTRODUCTORY                                                            -  112 

I.    THE  YEAR    1824   -  115 

-  127 
141 

-   -   -   -   -  158 


186 
193 

200 
206 
220 
235 
251 
265 
277 
289 


io  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

THE  DIARIES  OF  EDWARD  PEASE  (continued) : — 

XVI.    THE  YEAR    1853       -                                 -  302 

XVII.            „            1854  310 

XVIII.            „            1855  325 

XIX             „            1856  335 

XX.            „            1857  342 

APPENDICES  :— 

I.    A  PLEA  FOR  A  PEACEABLE  SPIRIT  351 

II.    A  QUAKER  WEDDING  354 

III.  EDWARD  PEASE'S  MOTHER                        -  359 

IV.  JOSEPH  PEASE  AND  BANKING  361 
V.     ITEMS  FROM  RACHEL  PEASE'S  ACCOUNTS    -  363 

VI.     EDWARD  PEASE'S  FRUIT  TREES    -  365 
VII.     PAPERS     RELATING     TO    THE     EMPEROR 

ALEXANDER  OF  RUSSIA     -  367 

VIII.    GROWTH  OF  THE  PORT  OF  MIDDLESBROUGH  -  377 
IX.    A  LABOURER'S  LETTER  ON  THE  STARTING  OF 

THE   FIRST  RAILWAY                                 -  379 
X.     MATERIALS    THAT    WENT    TO    MAKE    A 

QUAKER  COAT       -  382 
XI      DR.    JOHNSON'S   ATTITUDE   TOWARD   THE 

QUAKERS                                                     -  383 

XII.     QUAKERIETIES  FOR  1838  387 
XIII.     LETTER    FROM     EDWARD     PEASE     FROM 

MINDEN,  1842  -                                          -  394 

PEDIGREE  CHART  400 

INDEX     -                                                                       -  401 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PORTRAIT  OF  EDWARD  PEASE,  1848  (Act.  80)      -  Frontispiece. 

THE  OLDEST  LOCOMOTIVE  -      44 

MARY  PEASE  (SILHOUETTE)       -  63 

EDWARD  PEASE  AND  ISAAC  PEASE  (SILHOUETTES)  -      64 

JOSEPH  PEASE  (PORTRAIT)  66 

FACSIMILE  OF  HOTEL  BILL,  1808  -      80 

OPENING  OF  THE  FIRST  PUBLIC  RAILWAY  88 
FACSIMILE  OF  LETTER  FROM  GEORGE  STEPHENSON,  1821      92 

JOHN  PEASE  AND  HENRY  PEASE  (SILHOUETTES)   -  -    108 

JANE  GURNEY  Fox  (PORTRAIT)       -  201 

NORTHGATE,    DARLINGTON,    IN    1848       -  -      25! 

GEORGE  STEPHENSON  (PORTRAIT)     -  260 

SAMUEL   CAPPER    (SILHOUETTE)  -  -    382 


QUAKERISM. 

AS   the   following  pages   deal  with  the  lives  of  men 

and    women    belonging    to   a  peculiar   religious 

body,   who  passed  through  this  world  with  a  standard 

of  spiritual  perfection  ever  before  them,   Religion  must 

claim  a  large  share  of  the  attention  of  the  reader. 

It  seems  necessary,  at  the  outset,  to  give  some 
general  idea  of  the  principles  upon  which  the  Quakers 
based  not  only  their  religion  and  worship,  but  regulated 
their  conduct.  Besides,  the  object,  in  all  the  labour 
my  task  has  imposed,  has  not  been  merely  to  interest 
posterity  in  the  lives  of  those  who  have  gone,  and 
preserve  family  records  from  oblivion,  but  through  those 
lives  to  discover,  to  any  who  are  in  need  of  it,  a  found 
ation  of  rock  upon  which  their  forefathers  built,  against 
and  around  which  the  storms  of  doubt  and  the  tempests 
of  theological  controversies  beat  and  rage  in  vain. 

The  ultimate  destiny  of  our  individualities — our 
spirits,  our  souls — must  ever  be  the  most  vital,  however 
secret,  concern  of  our  existence.  Any  contribution 
from  the  experience  of  others  that  may  tend  to  save 
the  hearts  of  men  from  the  torments  of  wondering 
fears  and  doubts,  or  of  losing  themselves  in  the  labyrinths 
of  contending  creeds,  and  which  can  encourage  in 
mankind  a  faith  and  hope  that  no  Bible  criticism,  no 
philosophies,  no  human  logic,  and  no  scientific  dis 
coveries  impair,  is  of  some  service  to  humanity. 

It  is  because  I  believe  the  central  principles  of 
the  Society  of  Friends  contain  the  touchstone  in  contact 


2  EDWARD  PEASE. 

with  which  all  turns  to  gold,  and  that,  with  all  their 
mistakes  and  eccentricities,  the  early  Quakers  pro 
claimed  a  secret  known  to,  or  guessed  by,  others  beside 
themselves  in  many  ages  of  the  world,  that  I  have 
devoted  my  time  to  give  an  account*  of  bygone 
generations  of  my  family,  which  is  also  something  of 
an  Apology. 

Such  fragments  of  family  history  as  are  here  put 
together  I  hope  may  contain  evidence  of  how  pure 
Christianity  can  be  practised,  and  of  the  truth  and 
fruits  of  Friends'  principles.  If  they  indicate,  at  the 
same  time,  the  mistaken  limits  set  up  in  applying 
these  principles,  and  where  the  conception  of  their 
meaning  was  at  fault,  this  part  of  my  object  will  be 
equally  served. 

From  a  mere  hereditary  point  of  view,  few  have 
a  superior  title  to  speak  of  Quakerism  :  my  ancestry 
for  200  years,  at  least,  being  on  male  and  female 
sides  purely  Quaker  ;f  but  few  within  the  Society 
have  less  of  right  and  authority  to  put  forward  an 
exposition  of  its  Doctrines  and  Practice,  and  I  here 
warn  the  reader  that  I  alone  am  responsible  for  this 
attempt  at  one,  and  that  the  statements  are  my  own 
views  and  impressions,  however  authoritative  some 
of  the  sources  may  be  from  which  they  are  derived. 

I  claim  for  the  Truth,  as  the  Quakers  term  their 
creed,  that  it  gives  the  answer  to  those  who  dare 
in  unflinching  self-examination,  and  to  those  who 
dare  not,  "  Prove  all  things,"  and  ask  the  questions 
of  their  souls  :  Is  there  a  God  ?  What  is  God  ? 
What  is  His  will  ?  Can  my  reason,  my  intelligence, 
my  whole  being  truly  believe  in  Christianity  ?  Is 
the  Bible  true  ?  Have  we  immortal  souls  ?  What 

*  This  volume  is  one  of  a  projected  series. 

f  Pease  and  Coldwell,  Pease  and  Coates,  Pease  and  Richardson, 
Pease  and  Whitwcll,  Pease  and  Gurney,  Pease  and  Fox,  are  the  last 
six  generations. 


QUAKERISM.  3 

must  I  and  mine  and  the  world  do  to  be  saved  ?     Is 
there  a  Hereafter,  and  what  is  it  ? 

To  me  it  appears  that,  in  general,  professors  of 
Christianity  have  no  realisation  of  the  religion  they 
profess.  The  religion  in  vogue  in  most  Christian 
Churches  is  one  that  fills  the  soul  with  doubts  and 
superstitions,  false  fears,  false  hopes,  and,  reduced 
to  its  naked  meaning/ is  so  terrible  that  no  one  who 
really  believed  it  and  realised  its  meaning  could  spend 
a  happy  hour  upon  this  earth.  To  me  it  seems  that 
this  kind  of  Christianity  is  losing  its  hold  on  England. 
To  truly  believe  what  intelligence  and  heart  cannot 
respond  to  is  an  impossibility.  I  must  have  a  religion, 
if  I  have  any,  that  does  not  contradict  what  I  know 
are  the  deepest,  purest,  and  best  sentiments  of  justice, 
mercy  and  love  I  find  within  me,  and  which  I  rever 
ently  believe  are  part  of  the  Divine  Spirit.  I  find 
that  rather  than  search  for  the  truth,  or  fearlessly 
examine  the  humanly  devised  and  painted  picture  of 
Christianity,  the  back  is  turned  and  the  soul  com 
manded  to  accept  what  it  can  only  pretend  to  believe. 
This  pretence  is  often  misnamed  "  faith." 

Quakerism  at  least  divests  religion  from  all  outward 
and  material  phenomena,  from  all  anthropomorphising 
of  the  Deity,  and  brings  forth  something  more  than 
a  theory,  which  philosophers  or  ecclesiastics  may 
gainsay,  but  cannot  disprove,  and  which  commends 
itself  to  the  open  soul  as  to  the  open  mind. 

First,  then,  Quakerism  does  not  unequivocally 
demand  that  the  Christian  must  believe  that  God 
is  a  Being  in  the  likeness  of  man,  a  gigantic  Creator 
sitting  in  the  skies,  who  once  upon  a  time  in  space 
called  into  existence  infinite  numbers  of  celestial  bodies 
just  to  light  this  infinitely  little  world,  and  then  pro 
ceeded  with  this  world's  making  and  history  as  told  in 
the  Bible  at  His  dictation  and  out  of  His  "  mouth." 


4  EDWARD  PEASE. 

It  is  not  imperative  on  the  Quaker  to  believe  that 
God  has  a  "  mouth  "  or  spoke  with  a  "  voice,"  or  that 
He  showed  His  "  body  "  to  Moses,  or  that  He  planned 
and  fixed  our  individual  destinies.  The  Quaker 
can,  without  any  loosening  of  his  faith,  refuse  to  say 
"  I  believe  the  Bible  to  be  the  Word  of  God,"  though 
he  could  never  say  "  The  Bible  does  not  contain  the 
Word  of  God."*  He  may  believe  it  to  be  written  with 
poor  human  hands  and  by  fallible  men,  but  he  will 
believe  that  his  own  share  of  the  Divine  Spirit  within 
him  can  testify  as  to  what  is  declared  by  the  Spirit 
of  God  in  the  Scriptures,  and  that  in  Divine  ordering 
the  Scriptures  were  written  for  our  guidance  and 
edification,  and  that  they  contain  evidence  of  inspir 
ation.  Quakers,  however,  do  not  limit  inspiration  to  the 
writers  of  the  Bible.  I  think  they  would  claim  all 
good  words,  thoughts  and  deeds  as  inspired. 

The  Quaker  rejects  man-made  doctrines.  The 
creeds  of  churches,  theories  about  the  Trinity  and 
Sacraments  and  apostolic  succession  are  little  to  him, 
and  he  need  not  trouble  himself  with  attempts  to 
understand  the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation  or  vex 
himself  by  debating  whether  when  God  became  man, 
there  were  two  gods,  or  about  the  puzzle  of  three 
Persons  in  the  Godhead.  He  cannot  or  need  not 
think  that  an  all-powerful  and  omniscient  Being 
who  sees  the  future,  allowed  man  to  fall  when  He  could 
have  prevented  it,  permitted  countless  millions  to 
go  to  eternal  suffering,  and  then  to  assuage  His  own 
anger  with  the  creatures  whom,  by  a  mere  exercise 
of  volition,  He  might  have  at  any  moment  in  His 
omnipotence,  have  rendered  free  from  sin,  suffering 
or  sorrow,  voluntarily  sent  His  Son  and  permitted 

*  According  to  the  Quaker  profession,  Christ  is  the  Word  of  God, 
and  "The  Father,  The  Word,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  are  one,  in  divine 
being  inseparable." 


QUAKERISM.  5 

Him  to  be  murdered  with  every  circumstance  of 
cruelty  and  torture  in  order  that  He  might  be  less 
angry  with  the  wretched  beings  He  had  called  into 
existence. 

The  miraculous  does  not  strain  the  Quaker  faith, 
for  we  live  in  a  universe  of  miracles,  from  the  incom 
prehensible  mystery  of  the  miracles  of  small  things 
such  as  the  springing  of  the  seed  in  the  earth  to  a 
plant  or  a  tree  and  the  life  histories  of  all  creatures, 
to  the  vast  systems  of  the  heavenly  bodies.  But 
new  miracles  are  not  required  to  prove  the  existence 
of  a  Power  that  he  feels  within  himself  and  perceives 
without  himself. 

It  is  true  that  at  various  times  the  leaders  of  the 
Society  of  Friends  have  attempted  to  reduce  their 
faith  to  writing.  As  early  as  1693  (vide  Sewel's 
History)  this  was  attempted,  and  again  as  late  as  the 
last  century — but  no  credo  of  this  sort  has  been 
exacted  as  a  religious  test  of  members  of  the  Society. 
To  deny  and  to  assert  the  contrary  of  the  doctrines 
laid  down  in  such  declarations  of  faith  would  probably 
unfit  an  individual  for  membership.  Among  the  men 
most  honest  with  themselves  there  may,  I  believe 
must  be,  doubts  where  beliefs  are  expressed  in  words 
and  reduced  to  writing.  The  Quaker  creed  or  rather 
its  basis  can  be  put  very  simply  : — God  is  a  Spirit, 
His  Kingdom  is  spiritual,  God  (a  spirit)  is  omnipresent, 
this  spirit  embraces  every  quality  of  goodness,  to  every 
man  is  given  the  spirit  of  God,  and  that  the  com 
munication  between  the  Spirit  in  man  and  God  is  a 
reality,  that  His  Spirit  is  a  witness  in  the  hearts  of  men, 
and  to  hear  this  witness  we  must  turn  within  and  need 
to  be  still.  When  once  the  full  meaning  of  this  is  grasped 
there  is  no  difficulty  in  conceiving  the  Perfect  Man, 
incarnate  spirit  of  God,  and  our  spirits,  if  we  listen,  will 
tell  us  surely  the  teaching  and  the  life  of  Christ  to  be 


6  EDWARD  PEASE. 

Divine — and  that  in  Him  God  has  revealed  Himself 
to  man.  I  know  the  difficulty  of  accepting  absolutely 
the  New  Testament  accounts  of  the  Conception,  the 
Resurrection,  and  the  Ascension.  The  last  perhaps 
is  the  highest  trial  of  faith,  being  from  a  human  point 
of  view  the  most  stupendous  event,  and  yet  supported 
by  so  brief  a  Scriptural  notice  and  by  no  evidence 
outside.  The  man  who  can  say  he  truly  and  honestly 
believes  in  the  bodily  and  material  Resurrection  and 
Ascension  of  Christ  is  saved  from  the  trembling  wonder 
and  speculation  in  regard  to  the  rising  of  the  dead  and 
ultimate  destiny.  But  on  the  evidence  producable  no 
impartial  court  could  bring  in  "  proved." 

The  attitude  of  Friends  to  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity  is  difficult  to  define.  It  probably  will  not  be 
unfair  to  them  to  say  it  is  in  their  opinion  a  human 
device  to  express  what  is  as  inexpressible  as  it  is 
incomprehensible.*  The  following  note  which  I  found 
among  Edward  Pease's  papers,  possibly  states  generally 
the  feeling  of  Friends  on  the  subject  :— 

"  Whilst  I  love  to  contemplate  the  Deity  under  the  three 
fold  character  in  which,  for  the  benefit  of  poor  lost  and  sinful 
man,  he  has  condescended  to  reveal  Himself  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  I  seem  in  the  secret  of  my  heart  the  most  profoundly 
to  adore  Him,  as  an  infinite  and  incomprehensible  Unity— 
an  ineffable  and  unapproachable  glory — an  unutterable  and 
incommunicable  name — 'I  am  that  I  am,'  said  the  Lord  to 
His  servant  Moses — nor  can  we  '  by  searching,  find  out  the 
Almighty  to  perfection.'  M  JONATHAN  HuiCHiNSON.t 

"London,  5th  mo.,  26th,  1831." 

I  shall  now  try  to  show,  in  very  light  outline,  how 
Friends  have  presented  their  case  and  defended  their 

*  "He  that  goes  about  to  speak  of  and  to  understand  the  Trinity 
and  does  it  by  words  and  names  of  man's  invention,  he  will  talk  he 
knows  not  what." — Jeremy  Taylor. 

|  Jonathan  Hutchinson,  of  Gedney. 


QUAKERISM.  7 

principles  as  Christians  :  and  then  how  their  religion 
and  principles  affected  their  conduct. 

The  reader  must  bear  in  mind  that  the  religion  of 
Quakers  is  based  on  what  they  accept  as  Truth,  that  no 
man  knoweth  the  things  of  God  but  through  the  Spirit 
of  God  that  is  in  him,  just  as  no  man  knoweth  the  things 
of  man  save  through  the  spirit  of  man.  This  leads  us 
to  their  doctrine  of  Universal  Light. 

When  Christ  said  "  If  ye  were  blind  ye  should  have 
no  sin,"  He  said  what  our  pure  conception  of  justice 
assents  to.  In  the  first  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Romans  the  Gentiles  were  condemned  on  the  ground  that 
some  knowledge  of  Divine  Truth  was  theirs — the  whole 
reasoning  of  the  Apostle  rests  on  the  assumption  that 
they  were  guilty  because  they  sinned  against  the 
inward  and  universal  light, — God  "  had  showed  it  unto 
them,  "  partly  by  imprinting  this  knowledge  of  Himself 
on  the  hearts  of  all  men,  and  partly  by  His  open  book 
of  all  creation.  That  the  light  is  universal  is  the 
consequent  argument  of  "  all  have  sinned,"  for  "  where 
no  law  is  there  is  no  transgression,"  and  it  must  follow 
if  "  all  have  sinned  "  all  have  some  knowledge  of  the 
law.  The  so  called  heathen  by  this  law  feels  con 
demned  when  he  lies,  cheats,  steals,  and  murders. 
The  perceptions  of  right  and  wrong  come  neither  from 
reason  nor  education,  but  are  native  and  immediate, 
and  as  Plutarch  said,  never  permit  the  soul  to  be 
destitute  of  an  interior  guide.  Socrates  describes 
it  as  the  voice  which  "  has  followed  him  ever  since  he 
was  a  child.  "  This  conscience  may  become  dim  and 
degraded  and  dislodged  from  supremacy  or  deluded 
by  superstition  and  imaginations,  and  so  may  decide 
good  actions  as  bad  and  bad  actions  to  be  good.  The 
voice  of  conscience  neglected  grows  fainter  and  fainter. 
A  Quaker  believes  that  Christ  gave  Himself  "  a  ransom 
for  all"  and  that  the  spirit  of  God  "  lighteth  every 


8  EDWARD  PEASE. 

man  that  cometh  into  the  world,"  and  that  "  in  every 
nation  he  that  feareth  God  and  worketh  righteousness 
is  accepted  of  Him."* 

For  the  promotion  of  union  and  brotherhood 
among  Christians  the  Quaker  holds  that  all  men  should 
abstain  from  harsh  judgments,  and  that  all  classes 
influenced  by  the  Holy  Spirit  more  than  by  the  tradi 
tions  and  opinions  of  men  must  be  in  fundamental 
unity.  Whilst  abstaining  from  accusing  and  con 
demning  others,  the  true  Quaker  desires  to  "  prove  all 
things, "  and  then  to  "  hold  fast  to  that  which  is 
good." 

The  Quaker  believes  that  God  can  be  acceptably 
and  profitably  worshipped  without  the  intervention 
of  a  single  typical  ceremony,  and  without  the  aid  of 
any  human  ministry ;  that  the  work  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  direct  and  perceptible  in  the  soul,  and  if  the 
inward  guide  is  faithfully  obeyed  and  closely  followed 
it  will  conduct  us  into  true  virtue  and  happiness  ;  that 
there  is  no  condemnation  for  those  "  who  walk  not 
after  the  flesh  but  after  the  Spirit"  ;  and  that  "  as  many 
as  are  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God  they  are  the  sons  of 
God."  Many  other  passages  of  Scripture  support  the 
theory  of  the  perceptible  guidance,  and  that  the  inward 
light  reveals  man's  iniquities  and  his  proneness  to  evil, 
and  must  render  him  humble,  lead  him  to  self-denial, 
and  to  taking  up  his  Cross.  The  truth  is  perceptible 
to  those  who  retain  their  mind  in  calmness,  and  who 
are  still  and  wait  for  the  leading  of  the  Spirit  of  God, 
and  keep  themselves  abstracted  from  the  world. 

The  Quakers  claim  to  found  their  faith  on  Gospel 
principles  and  their  discipline  on  Gospel  rules — as  the 
best  and  surest  outward  guide  provided.  Quakers 
also  reject  terms  such  as  "  original  sin,"  "  the  Trinity," 

*  See  "  Observations  on  the  Distinguishing  Views  and  Practices  of 
the  Society  of  Friends,"  by  Joseph  John  Gurney. 


QUAKERISM.  9 

"  Sacrament,"  and  many  other  expressions  adopted 
by  other  Christians  not  found  in  the  Scriptures.  Man 
is  born  with  proclivities  to  sin,  but  he  is  not  regarded 
as  chargeable  with  uncommitted  sin.  Man  sins  and 
nothing  he  can  do  can  undo  the  past ;  the  sacrifice  of 
Christ  proves  what  the  love  of  God  can  do,  and  the 
possibility  of  redemption  and  forgiveness.  The  Spirit 
of  God  can  purify  and  make  man  in  future  able  to 
resist  sin.  One  of  the  peculiarities  of  this  Quaker 
theory  of  the  Redemption  is  that  it  is  given  purely 
from  the  love  of  God,  and  His  forbearance,  and  not  as  a 
sacrifice  or  murder  to  appease  an  angry  Divinity;  and 
that  any  such  theory  is  at  variance  with  the  voluntary 
nature  of  Christ's  sacrifice,  who  made  Himself  of  no 
reputation,  who  humbled  Himself  and  became  obedient 
unto  death.  Friends  believe  in  spiritual  perfection 
and  that  "  whosoever  is  born  of  God  doth  not  commit 
sin,"  and  rather  oppose  the  idea  of  sudden  conversion, 
and  favour  the  view  of  the  new  birth  being  a  progress 
and  growth.  As  to  Predestination,  the  Friends'  view, 
I  take  it,  is  that  if  predestination  were  conceivable,  the 
mission  of  Christ  was  useless  and  ineffectual,  and  He 
certainly  gave  no  colour  of  countenance  to  such  a 
theory,  which  offends  against  such  feelings  of  justice 
and  mercy  as  we  are  endowed  with. 

As  to  Immortality,  the  Quaker,  I  think,  would 
claim  that  the  Light  within  him  points  most  surely 
to  it,  and  as  to  what  the  future  life  may  be,  no  heart  can 
conceive  it  ;  speculation  is  therefore  vain  and  idle. 
To  see  the  rule  and  the  daily  illustration  that  death 
is  the  door  to  life,  that  unless  the  dead  grain  of  seed 
fall  into  the  ground  it  is  alone,  but  that  buried  it 
springs  into  a  larger  and  fuller  existence,  is  sufficient. 
To  believe  that  following  the  Guide,  man  is  on  the  only 
path  to  eternal  bliss  is  enough.  What  gifts  limitless 
Love  and  infinite  Compassion  may  have  in  store,  or 


io  EDWARD  PEASE. 

what  the  requirements  of  perfect  justice  may  be,  we 
cannot  know.  But  those  who  trust  the  Spirit  of  God 
in  Life  can  trust  Him  in  the  hour  of  Death,  and  such 
die  in  peace  and  often  in  a  sure  and  certain  hope. 
Through  all  the  trials  of  time,  in  the  mysteries  of  pain, 
in  the  apparent  inequalities  of  suffering  and  the 
anguish  of  innocent  and  helpless  creatures,  we  have 
to  believe  in  some  way  or  other  perfection  can  only 
be  attained  through  suffering,  and  that  in  the  end 
there  is  a  glory  so  sublime  that  all  this  is  nothing,  and 
the  sufferer  would  oft  repeat  the  experience  rather 
than  lose  the  reward. 

Whilst  the  world  outside  may  find  it  impossible  to 
prove  scientifically  or  philosophically  the  fact  of 
immortality,  and  is  driven  either  to  agnosticism  or  to 
a  blind  faith,  and  a  blind  acceptance  of  Authority, 
in  this,  and  all  else,  the  Quaker  looks  for  the  proof 
within  himself  by  the  Light  within,  and  believes  that 
the  things  of  God  knoweth  no  man  but  by  the  Spirit 
of  God  within  him.  On  the  earth,  in  the  universe, 
man  may  grope  outside  in  vain  to  find  the  Kingdom 
of  Heaven,  for  it  is  within  him. 

As  for  the  rules  of  life,  sufficient  is  revealed :  they 
are  summed  up  in  love  toward  God  and  love  to  our 
neighbour.  The  5th  chapter  of  Matthew,  when  under 
stood,  learnt,  and  its  lessons  put  into  practice,  will  turn 
men  into  Christians.  The  blessings  are  for  the  poor  in 
spirit,  the  afflicted,  the  meek,  the  hungry  souls,  the 
merciful,  the  pure  in  heart,  the  peacemakers,  the 
persecuted.  The  danger  is  for  unreasonable  anger, 
for  the  unforgiving,  the  implacable.  Sins  are  of  the 
heart  as  well  as  in  deed.  Swearing  is  forbidden  and 
resistance  and  vengeance,  and  the  refusal  of  charity. 
Enemies  are  to  be  loved,  those  who  hate  you  are  to  be 
served,  and  the  standard  of  perfection  is  the  perfection 
of  God. 


QUAKERISM.  n 

The  spirituality  of  the  religion  of  Quakers  is  appli 
cable  to  all  creation.  The  creation  of  the  universe 
or  its  existence  is  due  to  the  principle  we  call  life  or 
vital  energy,  that  is  the  Spirit  of  God,  which,  in  Bible 
phrase,  moved  upon  the  face  of  the  waters.  In  man 
is  placed  a  portion  of  this  Spirit,  and  this  is  the  basis 
of  the  Doctrine  of  the  Inward  Light.  As  to  mysteries 
of  the  animal  kingdom,  and  other  miracles  of  what  we 
term  creation  and  life,  we  know  little,  but  we  are 
conscious  that  we  at  least  are  charged  with  a  responsi 
bility,  and  we  cannot  be  sure  that  no  spark  of  this  Divine 
spirit  reaches  the  animal  or  other  creations.  Untrue 
to  this  responsibility  mankind  is  found  out  of  harmony 
with  the  divine  element  in  his  nature.  Christ  is 
the  one  example  of  perfect  harmony  with  the  Divine. 
Perfect  God,  as  man,  is  the  means  by  which  we  are 
taught  how  perfection  may  be  attained  and  Paradise 
regained.  The  Inward  Light  or  "  Word  "  was  made 
flesh  and  dwelt  among  us. 

As  regards  the  Scriptures  much  can  be  said  that 
must  exact  an  acknowledgment  that  they  are  of  no 
ordinary  origin,  but  their  divinity  can  only  be  proved 
by  the  divinity  in  man,  and  the  response  of  his  spirit. 
Knowledge  I  can  gain  from  the  Bible,  but  it  is  only 
my  spirit  that  can  adapt  it  to  its  own  needs,  and 
find  the  Great  Spirit  bearing  witness  with  my  own 
spirit.  Thus  theology  and  knowledge  have  no  relation 
to  the  spiritual  life.  Even  Luther  declared  the 
Scriptures  are  not  to  be  understood  but  by  the  same 
spirit  by  which  they  were  written.  Reason  is  of  no 
avail  against  spiritual  facts.  That  it  is  a  spiritual 
fact  that  our  consciences  are  spiritually  convinced  by 
the  spiritual  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures  cannot 
be  gainsaid.  According  to  the  Quaker  theory  a 
spiritual  guide  is  within  us  prompting  to  all  that  is 
good  and  reproving  all  that  is  evil,  and  opening  the 


12  EDWARD  PEASE. 

spiritual  eye  to  see  the  Spirit  of  God  in  all  nature. 
Thus  Friends  do  not  place  the  Bible  as  the  principal 
foundation  of  their  religion,  nor  yet  the  first  adequate 
rule  of  faith  and  manners  (Robert  Barclay).  The 
Spirit  of  God  reaches  all  mankind,  the  Bible  only  those 
who  have  it  and  can  read  or  hear  it.  The  Scriptures 
are  neither  perfect  nor  free  from  error.  Opinions  differ 
in  different  epochs  as  to  which  are  canonical — but  the 
spiritual  sense  distinguishes  between  the  true  and  the 
false.  In  Barclay's  words,  "  a  sufficiently  clear  testi 
mony  is  left  to  all  the  essentials  of  the  Christian  faith  ' 
in  the  Bible. 

Quakers  have  been  charged  with  making  much  of 
the  Spirit  and  little  of  Christ.  Nothing  could  be  more 
mistaken ;  they  adore  Him  in  His  capacity  as  the 
Human  Example  and  a  Man,  but  regarding  Him  as  the 
Spirit  of  God  or  God  the  Spirit,  they  place  him  on  the 
highest  pedestal  the  human  heart  can  conceive.  It  is 
true  that  they  dwell  less  than  other  Christians  on  the 
mysteries  of  His  birth,  of  His  carnal  condition,  and 
more  on  His  spiritual  mission.  The  human  body  of 
Christ,  which  was  temporal,  is  less  to  them  than 
the  Spirit  of  Christ,  which  lives  in  each  heart 
not  closed  to  Him.  Christ  is  the  Quakers'  only 
Mediator,  and  they  have  neither  Pope  nor  priest 
standing  as  middle  man  to  interrupt  direct  access 
to  God. 

Ministry.  Friends  own  no  priesthood  except  the 
One  High  Priest,  accepting  the  abolition  of  human 
intermediary  offices,  rites  and  ceremonies,  declared  in 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  It  is  also  a  direct  conse 
quence  of  the  spiritual  basis  on  which  their  religion 
is  founded.  They  deny  emphatically  the  possibility 
of  the  Spiritual  gifts  of  God  being  communicated  by 
human  and  material  means  and  by  human  mediation 
to  the  soul  of  man.  No  amount  of  theological  training 


QUAKERISM.  13 

nor  human  qualifications  qualify  for  ministry.  Their 
ministers  must  be  of  the  "  true  tabernacle,  which  the 
Lord  hath  pitched  and  not  man."  The  logical  conse 
quence  is  that  there  is  no  sex  limit  to  the  call  of  the 
Spirit,  which  is  given  to  all.  The  objection  raised  to 
women  acting  as  ministers,  founded  on  "  Let  your 
women  keep  silence  in  the  Churches,  for  it  is  not  per 
mitted  unto  them  to  speak,''  is  brushed  aside,  the 
word  translated  speak  meaning  "  talk  "  and  "  con 
verse  "  and  not  "  preach,"  and  St.  Paul  gives  them 
rules  to  conform  to,  when  they  prophesy  or  pray, 
which  is  a  confirmation  of  the  contention. 

The  fitness  of  a  Friend  to  be  considered  a  Minister 
is  decided  by  the  opinion  of  Elders,  as  to  the  evidence 
of  truth  and  inspiration  in  the  tenor  of  the  ministry 
offered.  The  Monthly  Meeting,  on  receiving  the  report 
of  the  elders,  if  satisfied,  simply  acknowledges  the 
Friend  as  a  Minister.  Certificates  are  issued  from 
Monthly  Meetings  to  Ministers,  which  set  them  free 
to  preach  and  visit  outside  the  bounds  of  their  own 
Quarterly  Meetings  and  in  foreign  parts.  These  are 
in  fact  passports  giving  them  the  entree  into  other 
Meetings  and  introducing  them  to  the  consideration 
and  attention  of  members  of  the  Society — and  prevent 
unauthorised  persons  imposing  on  Friends. 

Elders.  The  office  of  Elder  is  a  very  important 
one.  In  theory  Elders  are  selected  by  joint  committees 
of  the  Monthly  and  Quarterly  Meetings,  and  the 
members  of  such  committees  are  selected  as  far  as 
possible  from  persons  of  blameless  lives  and  of  clear 
spiritual  discernment.  The  duty  of  Elders  is  to  watch 
and  advise  on  all  questions  of  ministry,  but  they  can 
make  no  rules  nor  dictate  any  article  of  faith.  All 
these  matters  must  be  left  to  the  authority  of  the 
representatives  of  the  whole  church  in  Yearly  Meeting 
assembled. 


14  EDWARD  PEASE. 

Worship.  Must  be  spiritual  and  in  truth — no 
human  forms  or  rites  or  set  prayers  are  recognised— 
"  in  truth  "  meaning  that  the  worship  must  be  the  act 
of  a  true  disposition  to  worship.  In  theory  no  thought 
before  entering  meeting  as  to  what  they  are  to  say 
should  be  taken  by  ministers.  The  spiritual  faculty 
must  conceive  in  a  state  of  mental  calm,  disembarrassed 
from  all  human  imaginations.  In  prayer  the  Minister 
kneels,  the  congregation  stands  and  men  uncover.  The 
Minister  alone  need  uncover  when  he  stands  up  to 
preach.  It  may  often  happen,  with  Ministers  present, 
that  the  entire  period  of  worship  is  passed  in  silence. 
Friends  believe  in  the  sublimity  of  silent  worship,  that 
the  best  prayers  transcend  all  power  of  words,  and  do 
not  consist  in  bent  knees  and  prostrations  of  the  body 
or  lip  service,  but  in  the  lifting  of  the  soul  towards 
God.  The  best  devotion  is  secret  and  silent,  and 
"  recollection  "  the  best  exercise  towards  it.  The 
singing  of  hymns  and  psalms  is  not  countenanced, 
because  no  act  of  religion  can  take  place  in  truth  unless 
the  Spirit  influences  the  utterance  and  unless  the 
words  used  are  true  and  honest  to  the  heart  of  each 
who  uses  them.  And  when  there  is  attention  to  airs, 
time  and  harmony  there  cannot  be  full  and  pure 
oblation  of  the  Spirit.  To  consider  that  human  noises 
and  modulations  of  voice  can  please  the  Deity  is  to 
anthropomorphise  Him  and  make  Him  with  ears  of 
flesh  sensible  to  carnal  delights.  The  psalm  or  hymn 
may  be  the  true  spiritual  prayer  of  the  psalmist  or  the 
divine,  but  is  not  from  others  who  are  not  in  that 
particular  disposition  of  mind.  In  theory  they  regard 
not  times  and  seasons,  Sabbaths,  and  the  new  moons, 
Feasts  and  Holy  Days.  These  things  are  man  ap 
pointed,  and  devotion  cannot  be  appointed  by  man  for 
stated  times  or  days.  Sunday  is  neither  more  holy  nor 
more  proper  for  worship  than  any  other  day.  Every 


QUAKERISM.  15 

day  is  the  Lord's  day.  The  first  day  in  the  week  is 
chosen  for  public  worship,  for  no  other  reason  than  that 
the  Apostles  chose  it  for  their  assembling  with  their 
followers.  But  meetings  are  held  on  week  days  as 
well.  Those  typical  ceremonies  regarded  by  other 
bodies  of  Christians  as  essential  rites  and  sacraments, 
are  not  accepted  by  Quakers.  Following  the  Founder 
of  Christianity,  and  the  teaching  of  the  Apostle  to  the 
Hebrews,  the  ceremonial  of  religion  is  abolished  with 
the  advent  of  a  new  covenant.  "  Baptism  "  and  "  the 
Lord's  Supper "  are  by  most  churches  considered 
essential  rites,  and  one  or  both  indispensable  to  salva 
tion.  Friends  regard  them  both  as  out  of  harmony 
with  the  spirituality  of  religion,  for  they  are  formal 
and  ceremonial  and  typical,  the  very  kind  of  religion 
that  Christ  abolished,  for  they  maintain,  when  Christ 
came  and  died,  the  sacrificial  type  was  fulfilled.  St. 
Paul  remonstrated  with  the  Colossians,  "  Why  .  .  . 
are  ye  subject  to  ordinances  ?  "  Baptism  is  a  survival 
of  the  Jewish  typical  ablutions  ;  the  Lord's  Supper 
of  the  sacrificial  rites.  When  I  have  talked  with 
Mohammedans  and  other  religious  persons  unpre 
judiced  by  anything  near  my  own  associations,  I 
have  at  times,  when  divested  for  a  moment  of  precon 
ceived  opinions,  been  able  to  see  clearly  something  of 
the  horror  with  which  they  regard  the  incorporation 
of  a  cannibal  idea  into  the  worship  of  the  Spirit  of  the 
Universe. 

The  baptism  of  proselytes  was,  it  is  believed,  used 
as  a  sign  among  the  Jews.  It  was  a  rite  of  purification. 
When  John  baptised  it  was  no  strange  innovation. 
When  later  the  Apostles  baptised  converts  to  Jesus  it 
was  in  conformity  with  the  Jewish  practice.  The 
Lord's  Supper  was  eaten  with  the  bread  broken  and 
wine  poured  out  according  to  the  Jewish  observance 
of  the  Passover. 


16  EDWARD  PEASE. 

As  regards  the  interpretation  of  certain  passages 
which  are  used  from  the  New  Testament  in  support  of 
the  continued  use  of  these  typical  ceremonies,  Friends 
judge  by  a  spiritual  interpretation  rather  than  a 
literal. 

To  found  baptism  as  an  order  of  Christ's  on  the 
words  addressed  to  Nicodemus,  "  Except  a  man  be 
born  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the 
Kingdom  of  God,"  seems  at  variance  with  the  system 
of  Christianity,  besides  placing  a  great  weight  on  a 
solitary  and  obscure  expression.  Friends  take  this 
baptism  in  a  spiritual  sense  as  signifying  converted 
and  cleansed  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  feel  justified 
in  doing  so  when  they  examine  such  expressions  as 
"  baptise  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire."  Why 
take  the  "  born  again  "  figuratively  and  the  "  baptism  " 
literally  ?  How  is  it  that  St.  Paul  declares  he  had  no 
commission  to  baptise  ?  I  leave,  however,  the  dis 
cussion  of  these  questions  for  the  reader  to  follow  in 
other  books,  beyond  referring  him  to  the  following 
notes  I  found  among  my  father's  papers  after  his 
death  :— 

When  a  child  of  mine  thinks  it  would  conduce  to  his  or  her 
spiritual  growth  or  comfort  to  be  baptised,  perhaps  the  first 
feeling  that  it  calls  forth  in  my  mind  is  one  of  injured  family 
pride.  For  200  years  or  more  all  my  ancestors  have  lived  and 
died  in  the  faith  of  Christ,  and  many,  if  not  all,  in  perfect  peace, 
and  not  one  has  been  baptised. 

Putting  this  feeling  to  one  side,  I  would  ask,  "  What  is  to 
be  gained  by  this  ceremony  ?  " 

Is  it  an  outward  and  visible  sign  of  being  a  member  of 
Christ's  Church  ? 

I  would  reply,  "  It  can  be  no  such  sign,  for  there  are  thou 
sands  baptised  who  it  is  notorious  are  not  members  of  Christ's 
Church  on  earth." 

The  outward  signs  of  being  members  of  Christ's  Church  are 
the  ornaments  of  "  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit,"  of  using  the 


QUAKERISM.  17 

talents  given  in  His  fear  and  to  His  glory,  and  not  in  an  act 
that  can  only  be  performed  once  in  a  lifetime. 

Baptism  was  no  doubt  the  sign  by  which  the  nations  living 
around  the  Jews  acknowledged  their  worship  of  the  One 
true  God.  In  this  sense  it  was  used  by  the  Apostles. 

Christ  never  baptised. 

Paul  the  Great  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles  tells  us  Christ  gave 
him  no  commission  to  baptise. 

There  is  one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism. 

That  baptism  is  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Without  that  baptism  water  baptism  is  powerless.  With 
it  water  baptism  is  useless  and  needless  !  Then  why  use 
water  baptism  ? 

How  are  you  to  be  baptised  ?  As  in  the  Church  of  England  ? 
A  few  drops  of  water  on  your  face !  Is  that  the  essential 
acknowledgment  of  your  Christianity  ?  Or  by  total  immer 
sion  as  amongst  the  Baptists  ?  The  latter  is  perhaps  the  truer 
and  more  complete  emblem  of  purification — yet  how  few 
adopt  it. 

Who  is  to  baptise  you  ?  The  man  made  a  priest  by  the 
Bishop's  hands  ? 

The  man  sent  there  by  the  Wesleyan  Conference  ? 

The  man  selected  by  the  Independent  Congregation  ? 

Which  of  these  rather  than  any  other  has  the  power  of  God 
to  subject  you  to  a  rite  by  which  you  confess  your  acknow 
ledgment  of  Christ's  Kingdom  ? 

But  after  all,  Christ's  Kingdom,  Christ's  Church,  is  not 
set  up  in  meats  and  drinks  and  divers  ordinances.  It  is  a 
spiritual  Kingdom.  They  that  belong  to  it  have  their  hearts 
purified.  It  is  no  longer  a  dispensation  of  symbols  but  of 
Christ  in  man,  Christ's  spirit  being  in  men  teaching  them — 
leading  them  to  a  likeness  with  Himself. 

If  you  once  admit  the  need  or  even  comfort  of  an  outward 
sign,  where  is  it  to  end  ?  In  praying  before  an  outward  and 
visible  Cross  ?  You  at  once  admit  that  Christ's  Kindgom  is 
not  a  spiritual  Kingdom  but  a  Kingdom  of  signs  and  symbols 
to  some  extent.  You  lower  the  standard.  You  degrade 
Christianity.  It  seems  to  me  that  those  who  think  there  is 
comfort  in  the  signs  are  very  apt  to  lose  hold  of  the  comfort 


18  EDWARD  PEASE. 

there  is  in  the  daily  realisation  that  He  hath  loved  us  and  washed 
us  from  our  sins  in  His  blood.  That  thus  washed  we  are  safe. 
No  symbol  will  alter  our  position  in  the  least.  Then  why  use 
a  symbol,  when  even  as  such  it  is  useless,  when  the  reality  is 
within  reach. 

The  following,  taken  from  Joseph  John  Gurney, 
will  explain  the  position  of  Friends  to  the  Lord's 
Supper : — 

The  words  used  by  Our  Lord  on  this  solemn  occasion  afford 
no  more  evidence  that  the  bread  which  He  brake  was  itself 
His  body  than  they  do  that  the  cup  which  He  held  in  His 
hand  was  itself  the  New  Testament  in  His  blood.  It  was  an 
actual  meal,  and  when  the  earliest  Christians  partook  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  there  was  no  mystery  in  the  observance. 

And  he  shows  how  it  was  a  social  repast  at  which  they 
simply  remembered  the  dying  of  their  Lord. 

The  Scriptures  do  not  appear  to  afford  us  any 
sufficient  proof  that  the  command  on  which  this 
custom  was  founded  was  intended  for  the  whole  Church 
of  Christ  in  all  ages,  any  more  than  our  Lord's  injunction 
to  His  disciples  to  wash  one  another's  feet. 

But  no  sooner  was  this  practice  changed  from  its 
original  simple  character,  employed  as  a  part  of  the 
public  worship  of  God,  and  converted  into  a  purely 
ceremonial  rite,  than  the  state  of  the  case  was  entirely 
altered.  The  great  principle  that  God  is  to  be  wor 
shipped  in  spirit  and  in  truth  was  infringed  .  .  . 
a  return  took  place  to  the  old  legal  system  of  forms 
and  shadows. 

It  is  probably  in  consequence  of  this  change — the 
invention  and  contrivance  of  man — that  an  ordinance 
of  which  the  sole  purpose  was  the  thankful  remem 
brance  of  the  death  of  Jesus,  has  been  abused  to  an 
astonishing  extent.  Nothing  among  professing  Chris 
tians  has  been  perverted  into  an  occasion  for  so  much 


QUAKERISM.  19 

superstition  ;  few  things  have  been  the  means  of 
staining  the  annals  of  the  Church  with  so  much  blood. 

It  is  the  Spirit  that  quickeneth,  as  our  Saviour 
Himself  has  taught  us,  "  the  flesh  profiteth  nothing." 

The  attitude  of  the  Society  towards  the  Civil  Gov 
ernment  and  in  respect  to  oaths  and  war  may  be  briefly 
indicated  here.  The  testimony  of  Friends  in  regard  to 
Church  rates,  tithes,  military  obligations  and  oaths 
brought  them  under  the  ban  of  the  law.  There  were 
at  all  times  individual  Quakers  who  were  not  clear  as 
to  the  position  taken,  as  a  body,  by  the  Society  in  its 
stand  against  tithes,  but  the  general  conviction  was 
so  strong  against  paying  taxes  to  support  a  sacerdotal 
caste  and  forms  of  worship,  which  they  believed  to  be 
a  departure  from  those  of  primitive  Christianity,  that 
most  Friends,  till  my  time,  submitted  to  being  dis 
trained  on  for  these  imposts  rather  than  pay  them. 
Some  of  the  clergy  exercised  forbearance,  but,  as  a  rule, 
were  the  chief  instigators  of  persecution.  But  Friends 
refused  only  to  obey  such  laws  as  they  regarded  as 
being  in  conflict  with  the  Divine  will.  They  considered 
that  the  law's  requirements  were  met  by  active  obe 
dience  when  not  conflicting  with  Divine  duty,  and 
when  otherwise,  they  believed  the  law  to  be  satisfied 
by  an  unresisting  acceptance  of  the  suffering  imposed 
by  the  laws.  Thus,  when  the  law  demanded  that  they 
should  swear,  they  declared  that  the  "  Swear  not  at 
all  "  of  Christ  must  be  obeyed  before  the  command  of 
the  magistrate.  When  called  on  to  bear  arms  they 
were  unable  to  reconcile  injury  and  violence  to  their 
fellow  creatures  with  the  precept  to  love  their  enemies. 
Friends  have  drawn  a  very  distinct  line  for  themselves 
between  the  Civil  and  the  Military  arm.  In  practice, 
it  is  not  always  easily  to  be  distinguished  and  at  times 
a  distinction  is  compelled  between  the  application  of 
their  principles  to  individual  action  and  as  citizen 


20  EDWARD  PEASE. 

members  of  a  community.  Many  Friends  are  not 
quite  clear  as  to  the  exact  attitude  required  of  them, 
and  some  few  agree  with  Isaac  Penington's  views  thus 
expressed  :  "  I  speak  not  against  any  magistrate  or 
people  defending  themselves  against  foreign  invasions 
or  making  use  of  the  sword  to  suppress  violent  and 
evil-doers  in  their  borders  ;  for  this  the  present  state 
of  things  may  and  doth  require  ;  and  a  great  blessing 
will  attend  the  sword  when  it  is  borne  uprightly." 

As  an  illustration  of  the  attitude  of  the  Society  to 
day  in  respect  to  war  I  refer  the  reader  to  Appendix  I. 

The  peculiar  customs  and  habits  of  the  Society, 
many  of  which  have  fallen  into  disuse,  or  have  been 
greatly  modified,  result  from  this  view,  namely,  the 
necessity  of  being  retired  and  still  and  out  of  the  world, 
in  order  to  gain  a  true  perception  of  God's  will.  The  or 
ganisation  of  Friends  into  a  Society,  and  the  principles 
underlying  their  Discipline  and  Education,  practically 
imposed  on  members  an  obligation  to  follow  practices 
and  accept  certain  doctrines  as  conditions  of  member 
ship.  Many  of  these  conditions  have  no  absolute 
connection  with  the  principles  of  their  faith.  It  is  not 
too  much  to  say  that  in  the  attempt  to  rid  themselves 
of  human  traditions  and  ceremonies  the  Quakers  of 
the  period  covered  by  these  records  had  constructed 
a  formalism  and  tyranny  of  rules  that  was  worthy  of 
the  Pharisees. 

The  peculiarities  of  Quaker  dress  arose  in  a  very 
simple  manner,  firstly  from  the  refusal  to  change  the 
mode  of  dress  with  the  fashions,  secondly  by  attention 
to  great  simplicity.  The  main  body  of  the  early 
Quakers  was  drawn  from  the  middle  class  of  society, 
who  mostly  wore  simple  clothing,  and  almost  invariably 
drab  or  grey  cloaks  of  undyed  wool,  foreign  dyed 
stuffs  being  beyond  their  reach.  The  times  also  were 
those  of  a  very  general  Puritan  simplicity  in  dress. 


QUAKERISM.  21 

The  early  Friends  made  no  alteration  in  their  dress 
because  of  their  religion,  but  recommended  simplicity 
and  plainness  of  apparel.  If  gaily  clothed  people  j  oined 
the  Society  they  laid  aside  their  gaudy  clothing.  But 
anything  like  an  uniform  did  not  exist  till  about  the 
middle  of  the  eighteenth  century.  By  1800  Quakers  had 
become  extremely  formal,  laying  great  stress,  contrary 
to  their  best  principles,  on  outward  forms  of  dress, 
phraseology  and  customs.  Long  before  Queen  Vic 
toria  come  to  the  throne,  the  "  green  apron  "  and  beaver 
hat  had  been  dropped  by  women  friends  and  the  pre- 
Victorian  coal-scuttle  bonnet,*  made  plain  and  ex 
aggerated,  was  added  to  the  livery,  and  became  de 
rigeur  for  the  fair  sex.  There  were,  in  my  time  in  the 
sixties,  still  one  or  two  men  Friends  of  an  old  school  who 
still  wore  three  cornered  hats  instead  of  broadbrims,  and 
I  can  also  remember  some  extraordinary  broad  brimmed 
beavers,  buff  and  straw  coloured,  very  rough  in  their 
fur,  and  astonishingly  quaint.  Any  deviation  from  the 
sealed  pattern  of  the  uniform  was  looked  on  as  a  devia 
tion  from  simplicity  of  heart,  and  as  backsliding  from 
the  duty  of  taking  up  the  Cross.  The  uniform  was 
found  a  splendid  test  of  real  connection  with  the 
Society,  and  a  great  protection  from  the  world.  A 
Quaker  could  not  be  seen  at  races,  cock  fights,  or 
balls  without  attracting  a  peculiar  and  disagreeable 
attention  and  running  the  risk  of  his  conduct  becom 
ing  known  to  his  friends.  Nor  when  away  from  home 
was  he  safe  from  the  observation  of  other  Friends,  f 

*  I  have  a  portrait  taken  in  the  end  of  the  i8th  Century  or  not 
earlier  than  the  beginning  of  the  i9th,  of  Mrs.  Richard  (Rachel)  Gurney, 
of  Keswick,  in  one  of  these  bonnets  and  with  the  great  regulation  muff 
common  among  women  Friends  as  late  as  1870. 

f  Joseph  John  Gurney,  like  John  Pease,  though  more  evangelical  in  his 
views,  was  a  great  upholder  of  the  peculiarities  of  Friends  in  the 
matters  of  dress  and  language.  The  Orthodox  Friends  of  the  days  of 
my  youth  had  given  to  this  part  of  the  Quaker  system  an  importance 
equal  to  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  Christianity  at  least  as  far  as 
its  relation  to  the  discipline  and  life  of  the  Society.  They 


22  EDWARD  PEASE. 

In  furniture  and  decorations  they  tried  to  be  simple, 
and  in  this  respect  the  early  Victorian  Quakers  and 
preceding  ones  displayed  a  better  and  simpler  taste 
than  society.  The  richer  members  used  the  best 
articles  because  the  best  wear  longest  and  are  the  most 
useful.  The  best  of  curtains,  the  best  of  Turkey 
carpets,  and  elegant  but  solid  furniture  were  in  use  in 
Friends'  houses.  But  useless  fringes,  decorations, 
gilded  chairs  and  satin  seats,  pictures  and  portraits 
were  seldom  seen  in  their  homes.  Many  of  them 
collected  prints,  but  few  Friends  had  their  portraits 
painted.  When  photography  was  introduced  many 
allowed  themselves  to  be  photographed,  thinking  no 
doubt  that  such  likenesses  would  not  flatter  but  be 
correct  and  truthful  images. 

Plain  Speech.  George  Fox  introduced  or  re-intro 
duced  the  "  Thou  "  to  take  the  place  of  you  in  the 
singular.  That  is  to  say  he  reinstated  the  general 
practice,  for  Thou  and  Thee  have  always  been  re 
tained  as  the  familiar  pronouns  among  the  humbler 
classes.  Undoubtedly,  judging  by  other  languages, 
and  following  those  who  recommended  this  reversion 

regarded  departure  from  the  peculiar  pose  or  bearing  of  a  Quaker, 
his  dress  and  speech,  as  leading  surely  to  neglect  of  the  other 
"  testimonies  "  of  the  Society  and  probably  to  a  merging  with  the 
world  outside.  To  quote  Joseph  John  Gurney's  words  it  tended  to 
"  the  loss  of  the  high  and  conspicuous  standard  which  it  is  now  the 
privilege  of  the  Society  to  uphold  respecting  the  Christian  law  of 
peace,  and  respecting  the  complete  spirituality  of  the  gospel  dispensa 
tion  "  As  far  back  as  1859  a  critic,  one  of  their  own  body,  said  "And  is  it 
come  to  this  that  this  Society,  that  two  hundred  years  ago  braved 
the  fiercest  persecution  .  .  and  whose  members  were  most  effect 
ually  distinguished  from  the  rest  of  the  world  by  their  extraordinary 
zeal  and  the  pre-eminent  holiness  and  integrity  of  their  lives,  now 
require  a  broad-brimmed  hat,  a  straight  collar  and  an  indescribable 
bonnet  with  a  blanket  shawl  in  order  to  enable  them  to  maintain  their 
high  principle  or  to  avoid  merging  in  general  society  ?  "  and  went  on 
to  show  that  "  the  bright  light  is  now  in  most  part  concealed  under 
a  bushel,  and  the  rest  of  the  world,  for  whom  the  friends  complacently 
believed  they  are  holding  up  a  conspicuous  standard,  scarcely  notice 
them  except  as  a  very  peculiar  and  totally  incomprehensible,  though  a 
very  well  meaning,  people." 


QUAKERISM.  23 

to  correct  address,  George  Fox  had  grammatical  argu 
ment  on  his  side,  but  it  was  also  adopted  because  of 
some  supposed  flattery  that  existed  in  using  "  you." 
The  whole  thing  was  a  piece  of  pedantry,  but  if  the 
use  of  Thou  and  Thee  was  respectful  to  the  Deity, 
it  was  respectful  and  not  offensive  towards  men. 
Most  of  these  customs  of  language  among  Friends 
were  pedantic  and  ridiculous,  and  sometimes  con 
fusing,  such  as  the  disuse  of  the  names  of  the  days 
of  the  week  and  months.  They  also  avoided  the  words 
"  Saint,"  "  Christian  name,"  "  good-bye,"  "  Rev 
erend,"  and  all  other  titles  of  courtesy. 

Hat  Testimony. — Friends  who  prayed  or  preached 
did  so  uncovered,  and  during  prayer  all  uncovered 
because  St.  Paul  enjoins  the  custom,  but  they 
would  not  use  the  same  outward  mark  of  homage 
for  men  as  they  used  for  God.  They  wore  their  hats  in 
Meetings  for  Worship,  in  Courts  of  Law,  in  Churches, 
in  the  presence  of  kings,  and  never  doffed  them  as  a 
sign  of  honour  and  respect  to  man  or  to  a  place.  This 
was  a  protest  against  extravagant  fashions  of  address, 
against  the  idea  that  man  was  more  in  the  presence  of 
God  in  one  place  than  another,  and  against  the  in 
sincerity  of  the  bowing  and  scraping  and  hat  carrying 
salutations  of  the  day.  The  superstition  that  the  omni 
present  Spirit  of  God  haunts  buildings  more  than 
other  places  has  a  firm  hold  on  the  religious  and 
superstitious  people  of  this  country.  Whilst  admitting 
the  force  of  association  and  the  effect  on  the  human 
mind  of  beautiful  architecture,  the  edifices  of  certain 
sects  and  especially  of  the  Anglican  branch  of  the 
Church  are  a  sort  of  fetish  with  ecclesiastics  and  their 
flocks,  thousands  of  pounds  will  be  spent  in  what  is 
called  beautifying  them,  whilst  ministers  and  curates 
cannot  be  paid  and  the  poor  and  sick  remain  unvisited 
and  uncomforted.  The  most  elaborate  building  is  but 


24  EDWARD  PEASE. 

a  pimple  among  the  mountains  of  God's  world,  and  the 
accoutrements  and  accessories  of  worship  here  no  wit 
better  than  those  of  Oriental  idolaters  or  indeed  than 
of  some  African  savages.  "  He  dwelleth  not  in  temples 
made  with  hands." 

It  is  only  occasionally,  so  does  familiarity  with  the 
customs  of  one's  own  countrymen  destroy  impartial 
and  unprejudiced  mental  vision,  that  I  have  been  able 
to  see  in  a  true  and  naked  light  the  absurdity  and 
stupidity  of  the  ecclesiastical  paraphernalia  of  our 
Churches.  These  clear  glimpses  have  usually  occurred 
after  long  absences  from  England,  after  becoming 
familiar  with  the  people  of  other  religions.  At  such 
moments,  the  attitudes  and  poses,  the  vestments  and 
the  ornaments,  the  ceremonies  and  the  noises,  which 
have  become  the  recognised  accompaniments  of  re 
ligious  services  at  home  have  appeared  to  me  far  more 
childish,  ridiculous  and  curious  than  anything  I 
have  seen  in  the  East,  or  among  Abyssinians  and 
Mohammedans,  or  even  among  idolaters  and  pagans. 
Indeed  there  is  more  dignified  simplicity  and  reality 
in  the  worship  in  the  mosque  or  in  the  desert,  there  is 
less  theatrical  nonsense  of  gestures  and  dress  in 
heathen  temples,  there  is  less  affectation  of  voice  and 
manner  among  so  called  savages,  than  is  to  be  found  in 
many  services  in  our  own  land.  And  yet  all  this  is 
supposed  to  please  God.  Whether  it  does  or  not 
we  do  not  know.  He  looks  at  the  heart,  but  it 
pleases  the  eyes  and  ears  of  a  large  number  of  His 
creatures. 

Is  it  not  possible  that  a  greater  prevalence  of 
doubt  as  to  "  the  truth  "  of  all  required  of  the  national 
priesthood  is  responsible  for  the  falling  off  in  numbers 
among  candidates  for  it  ?  A  suspicion  that  it  is  not 
all  consistent  with  honest  intelligence  and  with  pure 
religion  is  growing. 


QUAKERISM.  35 

To  the  Quaker,  Bishops  in  lawn  sleeves,  aprons, 
knee  breeches,  and  weird  head  gear  studded  with 
tufts  of  ribbons,  clergymen  in  cassocks,  surplices, 
and  bell  rope  hangings,  processions  and  struttings, 
and  curious  noises  in  the  back  regions  of  churches  for 
theatrical  effect  appear  as  far  from  Christ's  practice  and 
teachings  as  the  ends  of  the  earth  are  asunder.  Are 
the  performers  on  any  higher  level  in  these  respects, 
considering  their  opportunities,  than  Kaffir  witch 
doctors,  smellers  out,  green  turbaned  Mullahs,  and 
dancing  dervishes  ?  Yet  so  ingrained  is  all  this  and 
so  steeped  in  superstition  are  our  priests  and  people 
that  any  such  opinions  as  the  foregoing  are  more 
likely  to  be  regarded  as  the  ravings  of  a  lunatic 
than  anything  else,  and  certainly  not  worth  a 
moment's  consideration,  far  less  examining  by  the 
standard  of  Christ's  own  example  or  that  of  His 
immediate  followers. 

Friends  at  a  day  when  grace  before  meat  was 
habitual,  said  none;  because  the  habit  was  artificial, 
and  often  accompanied  by  no  religious  disposition. 
To  give  all  or  any  opportunity  to  recognise  the 
author  of  all  good  things  and  to  thank  Him  they 
sat  a  minute  or  two  in  silence  before  meals.  Friends 
also  as  a  rule  took  no  part  in  the  drinking  of  healths 
during  or  after  meals,  as  a  heathenish  custom  descended 
from  pre-Christian  times  and  likely  to  promote  intem 
perance.  In  some  Friends'  houses  the  ladies  sat  with 
the  gentlemen  over  the  wine,  though  they  were  never 
under  an  obligation  to  do  so.  And  the  practice  in 
those  days  of  sitting  over  the  wine  till  tea  time  was 
rare  among  them.  The  bottle  passed  round  after 
dinner,  but  there  was  no  obligation  to  fill.  When  I 
was  young,  outside  the  Society  it  was  considered  bad 
form,  or  at  least  attracted  attention,  to  pass  the 
bottle  without  filling. 


26  EDWARD  PEASE. 

Marriage.  When  informal  betrothal  had  taken 
place,  the  man  had  to  publicly  declare  his  intention 
of  marriage  before  his  Monthly  Meeting,  producing 
certificates  of  consent  from  his  fiancee  and  parents. 
A  deputation  of  two  men  and  two  women  were  then 
appointed  to  visit  the  parties  and  inquire  if  they  were 
quite  "  clear  "  from  any  other  engagements.  The 
next  Monthly  Meeting  received  the  report ;  if  reported 
"  clear,"  they  were  free  to  marry.  In  the  case  of  second 
marriages  the  rights  of  children  of  the  first  marriage 
are  under  the  care  of  the  Monthly  Meeting  in  such 
preliminary  inquiries.  The  marriage  is  solemnised 
in  meeting  by  a  declaration  in  form  made  by  each 
contracting  party,  and  the  signature  by  them  of  a 
certificate  engrossed  on  parchment  and  witnessed  by 
relations  in  the  right  hand  column  and  by  any  others 
present  in  the  remaining  space.  This  certificate  is 
signed  before  leaving  the  meeting,  and  often  is  an 
interesting  record  of  autographs.  I  hold  them  for 
many  generations  of  my  own  family. 

Till  recently  marriage  was  only  permissible  between 
Friends,  and  to  marry  "  out  "  meant  disownment. 
Probably  this  severity  was  due  to  the  frequent  un 
comfortable  experiences  of  "  mixed  marriages,"  the 
resulting  contravention  of  Friends'  principles,  and 
the  difficulty  of  maintaining  the  "  discipline  "  of 
the  Society  in  respect  to  plainness  of  speech  and 
simplicity  of  apparel,  etc.  Women  were  far  more 
frequently  disowned  for  marrying  out  than  men,  a 
woman  being  more  easily  attracted  to  the  liberty  and 
fashions  of  the  world,  and  the  virtue  and  education 
of  women  Friends  being  a  special  attraction  to  many 
outside  the  Society. 

The  marriage  of  first  cousins  was  also  forbidden. 

The  frequency  of  disownments  for  disobedience 
in  these  respects  had  a  deplorable  effect  on  the  Society 


QUAKERISM.  27 

and  materially  affected  its  numbers.  A  much  wiser 
and  more  charitable  policy  has  long  been  adopted. 

I  give  as  an  illustration  of  a  Friends'  wedding  in 
Appendix  II.  a  newspaper  report  of  one  in  1851  ; 
which  contains  the  address  by  John  Pease  on  the 
occasion,  whence  the  Quaker  view  of  the  marriage  tie 
and  its  indissolubility  may  be  gathered. 

Funerals. — All  unnecessary  display  of  mourning 
is  discouraged  and  all  ceremonial  pomp  dispensed 
with.  Mourning  formerly  was  never  worn  by  Friends, 
and  no  rites  are  observed  at  the  burial,  but  a  Meeting 
for  Worship  is  held  subsequently  to  the  interment, 
and  at  the  graveside  usually  some  minister  or  other 
Friend  breaks  the  silence  by  prayer  or  address.  In 
early  times,  before  the  Friends  had  burial  grounds  of 
their  own,  they  buried  their  dead  in  their  gardens, 
orchards,  and  closes.  I  know  of  several  of  these  old 
places.  Not  a  few  Friends  were  buried  in  the  garden 
of  Headlam*  Hall,  the  residence  of  my  brother, 
Mr.  Joseph  A.  Pease.  Vaults  are  rare  in  Friends' 
families.  Tombstones  have  comparatively  recently 
been  permitted,  f  and  no  epitaphs  are  allowed,  nor  are 
the  gravestones  permitted  to  be  ornamental.  In 
all  Quaker  graveyards  they  are  of  a  uniform  plain  type, 
and  these  cemeteries  are  free  from  the  marbles,  columns, 
and  forests  of  ingenious  but  unsightly  monuments  of 
the  dead.  The  best  way  of  honouring  the  dead,  accord 
ing  to  Quakers,  is  to  keep  alive  the  good  actions  of  the 
man  in  your  memory.  And  the  practice  is  still  main 
tained  of  issuing  "  testimonies "  from  the  Monthly 
Meetings,  which  are  memoirs  of  deceased  Friends, 
containing  lessons  of  piety  and  morality  drawn  from 
their  lives.  These  are  submitted  for  further  examina- 

*  Headlam,  where  lived  the  Birkbecks  and  Garths;  see  Surtees' 
"  History  of  Durham." 

j  At  first  only  a  flat  stone  on  the  grave  was  allowed,  with  names  and 
dates.  Now  headstones  of  a  simple  pattern  have  been  permitted. 


28  EDWARD  PEASE. 

tion  to  the  Quarterly  and  Yearly  Meeting,  so  that 
every  precaution  is  taken  that  such  biographical 
notices  shall  be  consistent  with  truth  and  utility  and 
form  a  reliable  and  lasting  memorial.  As  to  mourning 
apparel,  Friends  profess  to  discard  it,  as  mourning 
should  be  worn  in  the  heart  and  not  as  a  fashion,  often 
in  insincerity  and  for  advertisement.  Their  attitude  is 
(or  was)  a  protest  against  display,  extravagance  and 
hypocrisy. 

Occupations.  It  was  not  only  the  manner  in  which 
they  adapted  the  principles  of  their  religious  persuasion 
to  a  practice  that  made  Quakers  a  peculiar  and  limited 
body,  and  put  bounds  to  their  action  as  citizens  and 
curtailed  their  general  usefulness.  The  laws  of  their 
country  hedged  them  into  a  narrow  field  during  several 
generations,  leaving  few  other  spheres  of  energy  to  them 
other  than  trade  and  agriculture.  Their  pursuit 
of  wealth  was  a  result  of  these  conditions,  but  in 
their  pursuit  they  were  honest,  not  from  policy  but 
principle,  and  they  have  kept  hands  clean  from  blood 
and  oppression,  in  days  when  trade  too  often  meant  one 
or  both  of  these  things.  A  few  Friends  were  doctors, 
sea  captains,  and  solicitors.  Originally  most  lived  in 
the  country,  out  of  the  crowd,  and  as  far  as  they  could 
get  from  molestation,  but  now  the  reverse  is  the  case, 
for  the  ordinary  avenues  of  life  are  open,  persecution  is 
no  more,  and  the  facilities  for  common  worship  and 
education  in  towns  are  greater.  This  change  is  largely 
answerable  for  the  loss  of  that  quietude  and  simplicity 
and  abstraction  from  the  world,  which  is  encouraged 
by  rural  tranquility.  Spiritual  existence  is  in  har 
mony  with  nature  in  the  fields  and  woods  and  among 
scenes  formed  for  contemplation.  The  earlier  Friends 
warned  their  fellows  against  cities  and  the  concourse 
of  towns.  As  regards  trade,  the  manufacture  of 
arms  and  munitions  of  war,  slave  owning  and  slave 


QUAKERISM.  29 

trading  were  forbidden,  also  privateering,  as  akin  to 
robbery  and  war,  and  Friends  have  always  been 
careful  to  inculcate  the  wrong  of  all  attempts  to 
defraud  the  public  revenue,  and  to  warn  Friends  in 
regard  to  such  business  as  distilling  spirits.  In  all 
differences  between  themselves  litigation  had  to  be 
avoided  and  resort  had  to  arbitration.  Where  this  has 
not  been  tried  first,  disownment  is,  or  used  to  be,  the 
consequence. 

The  Poor. — All  members  of  the  Society  are  in 
theory  bound  to  support  each  other.  In  practice  all  the 
necessities  of  the  poor  are  provided,  and  members 
of  the  Society  have  a  right  to  a  treatment  as  belonging 
to  one  great  family.  The  Monthly  Meetings  are 
charged  with  the  oversight  of  the  poorer  members. 
Whatever  the  overseers  (men  and  women)  find  is 
required  in  the  way  of  supplies  and  medical  attendance 
is  ordered,  and  the  Monthly  Meeting  pays.  In  London 
formerly,  and  perhaps  still,  a  committee  is  appointed 
to  attend  to  each  poor  person.  Relief  is,  of  course, 
given  quite  privately,  neither  disorderly  conduct  nor 
any  other,  discovered  after  the  need  of  relief,  is  allowed 
in  principle  to  disqualify.*  Subscriptions  for  this  and 
other  objects  are  collected  quarterly,  and  on  special 
occasions.  The  poor  are  attached  to  their  Monthly 
Meetings,  and  their  children's  instruction  is  carefully 
attended  to  by  it.  The  pride  that  will  hide  its 
poverty  is  discouraged  as  much  as  possible.  The 
poor  of  the  Society  are  self-respecting,  well  educated 
and  moral,  and  can  never  fall  into  the  pauper  class 
as  long  as  their  membership  is  retained. 

These  peculiar  customs  and  doctrines  grew  largely 
out  of  the  minutes  and  advices  which  were  the  printed 
sentiments  of  the  religious  leaders  in  the  Society. 
They  consist  of  recommendations  and  suggest  pro- 

*  Vide  p.  133,  1869  Edition  of  Clarkson's  "Portraiture  of  Friends." 


30  EDWARD  PEASE. 

hibitions  as  rules  of  guidance,  and  as  they  came  from 
bodies  of  supposed  spiritual  minded  men  they  are 
regarded  as  spiritual  in  origin. 

Quaker  parents  were  and  are  sensible  of  the 
needs  of  youth.  Even  in  the  strict  old  days 
the  child  was  allowed  the  amusements,  toys  and 
exercises  that  other  children  enjoy.  They  proscribed 
all  games  of  chance,  dice,  cards,  horse-racing,  and 
cock-fighting,  the  public  lottery,  pure  speculation,  and 
laying  wagers.  All  childish  games  that  tended  in 
these  directions  were  generally  disallowed.  The 
principle  upon  which  these  prohibitions  rested  was 
that  they  absorbed  valuable  time,  led  to  waste  of 
money,  to  a  disturbed  mind,  to  covetousness,  and  often 
to  misery,  and  were  below  the  dignity  of  Christian 
character,  and  that  the  time  so  spent  should  rather 
be  devoted  to  the  improvement  of  moral  character  and 
the  pursuit  of  knowledge. 

The  little  Quaker,  however,  had  to  undergo  a 
course  of  training  that  might  make  it  easier  for  him 
to  attain  that  stillness  and  quietness  of  mind  that  was 
of  such  importance.  So  each  perverse  passion  was 
promptly  checked  and  the  child  made  passive  and 
quiet  in  deportment. 

Music  was  not  allowed  ;  not  that  Friends  condemned 
music  or  were  insensible  to  it,  but  they  thought  it  led  to 
self-gratification  and  to  little  improvement  of  the  mind, 
and  might  promote  sensual  and  voluptuous  thoughts. 
Besides  music  would  disturb  the  "  retirement  "  of  the 
elder  members  of  a  household.  They  disliked  much 
in  the  sentiments  and  words  of  songs,  martial,  impure, 
Bachanalian,  and  generally  thought  the  pursuit  of 
music  led  into  the  world. 

As  the  child  emerged  from  infancy  he  found  the 
theatre  forbidden.  It  must  be  remembered  when 
Friends,  as  a  Society,  were  in  their  infancy,  the  stage 


QUAKERISM.  31 

was  a  school  for  profligate  and  corrupt  morals,  and 
George  Fox  placed  it  under  a  ban,  as  did  Robert 
Barclay  and  William  Penn.  But  later,  Friends  objected 
to  the  fiction  of  the  drama  and  the  pretence  of  actors  to 
pleasure  or  pain  as  contrary  to  Christian  simplicity,  and 
they  also  disliked  warrior  heroes,  knaves  succeeding 
without  punishment,  and  the  influence  of  acted  trage 
dies  and  comedies  on  the  mind. 

Dancing  was  left  out  of  Friends'  education  in  spite 
of  its  power  of  improving  deportment  and  leading  to  a 
graceful  use  of  the  limbs,  partly  because  music  is  neces 
sary  and  partly  because  it  led  into  vain  amusements 
and  frivolity.  Great  attention,  however,  was  given  to 
deportment. 

Novels  were  practically  forbidden,  because  they 
created  an  indisposition  towards  other  kind  of  reading. 

Field  Sports  were  not  absolutely  condemned, 
or  if  they  were,  the  rule  was  frequently  broken,  at 
least  amongst  the  youth  of  the  Society.  Fishing  was 
considered  less  blameworthy  than  shooting,  and 
shooting  than  hunting.  Still  the  Society  strove  to 
foster  a  tender  disposition  towards  the  whole  animal 
creation,  from  the  time  of  George  Fox  onwards,  and 
censured  these  diversions.  It  clearly  ranked  hunting 
and  shooting  for  diversion  as  vain  sports,  and  "  would 
rather  see  leisure  employed  in  serving  our  neighbour 
than  in  distressing  the  creatures  of  God  for  our  amuse 
ment."  Yet  who  has  ever  met  the  Quaker  who  on 
principle  refused  a  present  of  game,  or  to  eat  it  ?  All  these 
prohibitions  Friends  based  on  no  specific  scriptural 
authority,  but  as  implied  in  the  spirit  of  Christianity. 
Their  policy  was  to  bar  all  approaches  to  the  avenues 
of  vice,  and  to  fill  the  heart  as  much  as  possible  with 
virtue.  Whether  a  man  is  better  able  to  fight  vice 
and  pursue  virtue  under  this  system  than  any  other 
will  be  disputed  by  many,  but  in  Friends'  families 


32  EDWARD  PEASE. 

where  the  policy  was  consistently  pursued  its  success  in 
bringing  up  virtuous  men  and  women  was,  it  may  be 
said,  almost  if  not  quite  complete.  The  first  lesson 
was  to  abstain  from  vice,  and  this  was  the  first  step  to 
virtue.  The  young  Friend  came,  by  means  of  this 
kind  of  education,  to  the  same  maxims  of  philosophy 
and  religion  as  the  foundation  of  happiness  that  others 
learn  after  a  vain  and  long  pursuit  of  pleasure. 

The  discipline  of  the  Society  is  based  on  the  principle 
that  vigilance  over  the  moral  conduct  of  individuals 
is  a  duty,  and  that  interference  and  admonition 
must  be  accompanied  by  a  spirit  of  Christian  love 
and  tenderness.  The  courts  charged  with  this 
duty  are  the  Meetings  for  Discipline.  The  extreme 
punishment  is  disownment.  The  administration  of 
the  Discipline  is  in  the  hands  of  men  and  women  who 
are  appointed  overseers  to  one  or  more  congregations. 
It  is  the  duty  of  overseers  to  take  cognisance  of  all 
violations  of  prohibitions,  and  any  inconsistency  with 
Christian  conduct. 

The  overseers  first  admonish  privately,  unless  a 
case  is  notorious,  and  the  admonition  is  secret,  and 
considered  sacredly  so,  and  has  to  be  without  austerity 
and  in  tenderness.  If  repeated  admonition  fails,  the 
case  is  laid  before  the  Monthly  Meeting.  Such  cases 
comprised  and  still  do  with  some  exceptions  :  im 
morality,  drunkenness,  paying  tithes,  marrying  a  first 
cousin,  or  outside  the  Society,  swearing,  insolvency, 
breach  of  rules,  etc.,  etc.  The  Monthly  Meeting 
appoints  a  Committee  to  wait  on  the  delinquent,  and 
the  Committee  reports.  Appeal  lies  from  the  Monthly 
to  the  Quarterly  Meeting,  and  from  the  Quarterly 
to  the  Yearly  Meeting.  In  the  administration  of  this 
discipline,  careful  attention  was  always  given,  not  to 
be  "  respecters  of  persons."  The  arrangement  of  the 
discipline  and  organisation  of  the  Society  is  simple  :  — 


QUAKERISM.  33 

1.  A    Meeting.     Each    congregation    of    members 
constitutes  a  Meeting,  and  becomes  a  Prepara 
tive    Meeting,    when    arranging   business   for   a 
Monthly  Meeting,  with  an  appointed  clerk. 

2.  A  Monthly  Meeting.     A  group  of  Meetings  at 
tended  by  representatives  appointed  by  Meet 
ings.    These  meetings  take  place  as  a  rule  every 
month,   and    are    preceded    by  a    Meeting    for 
Worship.     In  these,  as  in  all  meetings,  the  men 
and   women    in   the   old    days    sat    apart    and 
separated.* 

3.  A   Quarterly   Meeting.     A  group   of    Monthly 
Meetings,  attended  by  representatives  from  the 
Monthly  Meetings,  preceded  by  a  Meeting  for 
Worship. 

At  the  Quarterly  Meeting  set  questions  are  put 
and  answered,  f 

4.  A  Yearly  Meeting,  constituted  from  the  repre 
sentatives    of    the    Quarterly    Meetings.     This 
meeting  takes  up  all  appeals  and  questions  from 
the  meetings,  passes  in  review  the  state  of  the 
Society,  and  its  institutions,  "Sufferings,"  new 
proposals  for  regulations  or  advices.    The  Meeting 
receives  reports  from  foreign  bodies  of  Friends, 
and    Missions.     Decisions    are    not    carried    by 
votes  or  voices,  but  by  the  sense  and  convince - 
ment  of  those  present.    This  is  a  most  remarkable 
instance  of  what,  humanly  speaking,  seems  an 
impracticable  method,  proving  a  most  practicable 
one  and  one  most  conducive  to  order.  The  Yearly 
Meeting  issues  a  general  Epistle  to  be  circulated 
through  the  Society,  and  is  a  vehicle  for  advice 
and  warning  as  well  as  for  encouragement. 

*  At  the  present  time  in  not  a  few  Meetings  the  sexes  sit  together. 
|  The  Queries  of  to-day    are    given,  p.    41,   et  seq,,   Vol.    II.    of 
'Christian  Discipline,"  1906. 


34  EDWARD  PEASE. 

In  conclusion,  it  would  seem  that  Quakerism  in  the 
past  begot  at  times  a  narrow  view  of  life's  duty  to  the 
world  at  large,  an  exclusive  and  inhospitable  spirit  to  the 
poor  struggling  fellow  creatures  around   it.     It   seems 
an  irony  that  members  of  a  body  theoretically  founded 
on  principles  of  universal  charity  should  have  become 
at  one  period,  at  least,  concentrated   on  the  salvation 
of  their  own  souls,  and   the  attainment  of  perfection, 
and  that    to  such  an  extent  as  to  be  incapable  of  or 
dinary  social  association  and  fellowship  with  those  who 
were  not  of  them.     That  there  were  always  many  who 
broke  loose  from  these  fetters  is  certain.     There  have 
always  been  Elizabeth  Frys  and  William  Aliens  to  set  an 
example  of  a  more  unselfish  service,  refusing  to  be  kept 
within  the  pale  of  a  sect  by  a  hedge  of  formalism,  or  by 
the  threatening  face  of  an  unkind  world.    The  system  of 
the  Society  set  limits  on   education  and  intellectual 
development,   but  gave  to  the  whole  body  a  better 
average   knowledge   and   far  greater  refinement   than 
was    common    in    parallel    classes    of  the  community. 
Much  innocent  happiness  was  frowned  on,  and  Friends 
often  forgot  that  a  merry  heart  doeth  good  like  a  medi 
cine,  and  that  this  world  and  all  things  were  given  richly 
to  enjoy. 

Friends  became  slaves  to,  and  superstitious  about, 
outward  forms  of  dress,  manners  and  speech,  and 
were  perpetually  perplexed  with  many  questions  of 
little  real  importance,  and  harassed  with  impressions 
and  scruples  now  scarcely  comprehensible  in  rational 
beings.  Persecution  and  their  own  training  made 
them  self-reliant  and  often  obstinate  in  spirit.  The 
ordinary  openings  for  man's  energies  being  for  the 
most  part  closed  to  them,  their  natural  talents  were 
directed  to  money  getting,  and  their  honesty  and 
reputation  made  the  pursuit,  as  a  rule,  successful. 
Their  caution  and  evasiveness  in  speech  gave  them 


QUAKERISM.  35 

a  reputation  ior  slyness,  something  like  that  of  the 
canny  Scot,  which  I  do  not  think  they  deserved, 
but  which  was  the  result  of  a  training  to  be  always 
on  their  guard  and  to  speak  only  the  truth.  There 
is  nothing  that  creates  more  suspicion  than  the  cautious, 
ambiguous  reply. 

The  impression,  as  a  whole,  left  by  the  old  school 
upon  my  mind,  is  a  curious  mixture  of  wonder  and  ad 
miration,  but  not  of  attraction  or  affection.  With  very 
striking  exceptions,  the  older  Quakers  were  calculated, 
when  not  intimately  known,  to  repel  and  frighten  chil 
dren,  from  the  general  gravity  and  austerity  of  their 
demeanour  and  from  their  suppression  of  animation 
outside  their  own  families.  But  it  was  a  day  when 
even  outside  the  Society  children  treated  parents 
with  respect,  and  the  family  patriarchs  with  trembling 
veneration. 

Shortly  before  my  father's  death,  my  sisters 
and  I  looked  over  some  hundreds  of  photographs 
(from  Southend)  of  old  friends,  American  and  British, 
and,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  all  my  father  failed  to  iden 
tify,  we  destroyed.  I  am  bound  to  confess  there 
were  many  in  this  collection  that  were  dreadful  to 
look  at,  not  so  much  because  of  their  general  "  get  up," 
for  this  was  even  less  extraordinary  than  that  of  their 
contemporaries  of  the  world,  from  the  Royal  Family 
downwards,  but  on  account  of  the  number  of  sour, 
severe  and  unhappy  faces  among  them.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  most  saintlike,  the  sweetest  and  gentlest, 
the  most  tender  and  sympathetic  women  I  have 
known  are  among  Friends.  The  happiest,  the  bravest, 
the  best  characters  I  can  remember  among  men  are 
of  them.  But  I  imagine  where  the  conformity  with 
the  rigid  formalism  of  the  Quakerism  of  that  time 
had  been  the  main  object  in  life,  and  the  innocent 
joys  of  life  and  the  heart's  warmest  instincts  trampled 


36  EDWARD  PEASE. 

on,  ugly  evidence  of  the  unnatural  struggle  was  left 
upon  their  faces.  The  kindly  word,  the  salutation, 
the  courtesy  to  strangers  and  those  not  of  us,  may 
at  times  be  an  effort,  but  if  so,  it  is  an  exertion  of 
Christian  duty  which  reacts  on  the  heart  and  warms 
it  towards  one's  fellow  man.  With  some  of  these 
old  Friends,  in  their  adherence  to  the  formalism  of 
their  testimonies  and  rules,  all  such  charitable  prompt 
ings  were  ruthlessly  stamped  down.  Such  was  the 
unlovable  side  of  Quakerism. 

The  general  character  given  to  Friends  by  those 
outside  qualified  to  know,  was  one  of  great  benevolence, 
of  quietness  of  mind  and  complacency,  of  real  sincerity 
in  deed  and  word,  in  politics  reasoning  on  principle 
and  not  from  consequences,  and  one  of  remarkable 
patience,  fortitude,  self-reliance  and  punctuality  to 
their  words  and  engagements,  and  refined  and  happy 
in  their  homes. 

In  a  clever  and  curious  book,  "  A  Scientific 
Demonstration  of  the  Future  Life,"  by  Thos.  Jay 
Hudson,  may  be  found  some  striking  passages  that 
have  a  bearing  on  spiritual  religion.  There  seems, 
from  a  scientific  point  of  view,  much  that  is  true  in  the 
way  of  collateral  testimony  to  the  principles  of  Quaker 
ism  in  such  statements  as  the  following  : — 

The  love  of  truth  is  inherent  in  the  normal  human  soul 
and  its  recognition  of  truth  is  instinctive.  ...  It  is 
this  instinctive  perception  or  recognition  of  truth  when  it  is 
presented  that  gives  rise  to  that  emotional  thrill  of  pleasure 
and  satisfaction  which  one  experiences  when  reading  the 
statement  of  a  vital  truth.  It  is  the  soul's  response  to  a 
suggestion  which  is  in  accord  with  its  own  deductions  from 
the  facts  of  its  own  experience.  In  this  connection  it  must 
be  remembered  that  the  memory  of  the  subjective  mind  is 
perfect  and  that  its  power  of  deductive  reasoning  is  also 
perfect.  It  is,  however,  devoid  of  the  power  of  induction 
proper,  being  constantly  amenable  to  control  by  suggestion. 


QUAKERISM.  37 

When  therefore  a  suggestion  is  imparted  to  it  that  cor 
responds  to  its  own  deductions  it  instantly  recognises  its  truth 
and  responds  with  a  thrill  of  pleasurable  emotion 

.  .  .  The  faculty  of  perceiving  those  truths  which 
affect  the  human  soul  is  inherent  in  the  soul  although  it  is  in 
rare  cases  only  that  it  is  largely  developed  in  any  one  individual. 
Jesus  was  probably  the  only  man  who  was  endowed  with  this 
faculty  to  perfection.  .  .  .  Others  possess  that  power 
(of  independent  perception  of  the  laws  of  the  soul)  only  in  the 
limited  sense  that  they  are  able  to  grasp  and  comprehend 
the  truth  when  it  is  presented  to  them.  .  .  . 

.  .  .  The  fact  that  Christianity  still  exists  as  a  system 
of  religion  is  evidence  little  short  of  demonstrative  that  it  is 
founded  upon  the  true  science  of  the  human  soul.  It  is  cer 
tainly  the  strongest  corroborative  evidence  of  the  truth  of  the 
claim  that  Jesus  correctly  expounded  the  laws  of  the  soul  in 
its  relations  to  the  Divine  intelligence.  .  . 

After  surveying  the  historical  obstructions 
Christianity  encountered,  the  author  proceeds  : 

It  had  its  roots  in  a  region  remote  from  the  centres  of  civili 
sation  and  among  a  nomadic  race  who  were  poor  and  despised 
and  reprobated  and  persecuted.  .  .  From  the  first  it 
encountered  the  refined  philosophy  of  the  most  enlightened 
nations  of  the  earth.  It  has  its  literary  setting  in  a  volume 
which  teaches  an  absurd  astronomy  or  impossible  geography, 
and  a  cosmogony,  the  crudeness  of  which  is  detected  and  ex 
posed  by  the  learning  of  every  school  boy.  And  yet  it  exists 
not  in  decrepitude  and  decay,  but  as  a  vital  element  in  every 
civilisation  worthy  of  the  name. 

What  is  interesting  in  this  book  is  the  fact  that  a 
scientific  and  human  argument,  after  an  examination 
of  which  I  have  only  just  indicated  the  lines,  leads 
towards  the  Quakers'  position  : — 

i.  Jesus  Christ  was  endowed  with  the  faculty  of  intuitional 
perception  of  the  natural  laws  of  the  human  soul,  and  He 
proclaimed  to  mankind  in  a  few  simple  propositions  the  essen 
tial  principles  which  form  the  relationship  of  man  to  his  fellow 
men  and  to  God. 


38  EDWARD  PEASE. 

2.  All  men  are  endowed  with  the  same  intuitional  powers, 
differing  only  in  degree,  and  by  this  means  are  enabled  to  recog 
nise,  when  once  presented,  any  truth  which  is  essential  to  the 
human  soul. 

3.  It  follows  that  when  one  reads  the  simple  but  all 
comprehensive  philosophy  of  Jesus,  man's  soul  intuitively 
and  instantaneously  recognises  its  essential  truth. 

Again,  here  is  a  purely  scientific  reason  of  why  it 
is  that  the  Bible  affords  consolation  to  a  vast  multitude 
of  the  human  race.  '  Variable  and  diverse  as  are 
the  emotions  and  aspirations,  the  spiritual  wants 
and  necessities  of  aggregate  humanity,  there  may  be 
found  in  the  Scriptures  something  to  fit  every  case, 
something  to  pour  the  balm  of  consolation  into  every 
stricken  breast,  something  to  inspire  every  human 
heart  with  hope."  "  The  philosophy  of  Jesus,  however, 
constitutes  the  chief  corner-stone  of  the  whole  super 
structure." 

After  showing  what  the  principles  and  ethics 
of  Jesus  were,  and  the  effect  of  the  golden  rule  with 
His  fundamental  idea  of  the  Fatherhood  of  God, 
and  His  doctrine  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  the 
author  points  out  that  they  "  appeal  strongly  to  the 
unperverted  intuitions  of  all  mankind,"  and  then  pro 
ceeds  to  show  that  Christianity  is  the  pure  and  simple 
code  of  morals,  ethics  and  religion,  which  fell  from  His 
lips, and  not  the  vast  mass  of  theological  doctrine  evolved 
by  Augustine,  Athanasius,  Clement,  Justin  Martyr 
and  Tertullian,  nor  the  mass  of  dogma  ingeniously 
aggregated  by  the  lesser  lights  of  more  recent  times, 
which  has  usurped  the  name,  and  he  repeats  "  that 
was  the  end  of  the  evolution  of  religion  on  this  earth, 
for  in  that  code  perfection  was  attained."  '  The 
religion  of  Jesus  is  for  all  time  to  come."  "  It  is 
the  final  religion  of  humanity." 


QUAKERISM.  39 

"  The  vast  system  of  theology  has  been  erected 
ostensibly  upon  the  foundation  which  He  laid.  A 
theology,  much  of  which  bears  no  resemblance  to  true 
Christianity — and  this  was  because  man  was — as  he 
still  is — imperfect." 

The  Quakerism  of  Edward  Pease's  day  is  dead,  and 
it  is  well  that  its  formalism  and  exclusiveness  has 
departed.  The  Quakerism  of  our  day  still  holds  fast 
to  the  simplicity  and  spirituality  of  the  Gospel  dispen 
sation.  The  Society  is  no  longer  a  close  corporation 
of  self-centred  mystics.  Its  discipline  is  loosened, 
its  rules  are  mildly  administered,  its  bounds  enclose 
various  schools  of  thought  and  the  agents  of  many 
forms  of  social  activity.  The  transformation  has  not 
been  accomplished  without  the  loss  of  some  of  the  most 
attractive  attributes  of  Quakerism.  The  quietude  and 
calmness  of  Quaker  life  has  given  way  to  strenuous 
activity.  The  ministry  shows  less  and  less  of  that 
power  to  convince  which  was  the  offspring  of  retirement, 
silence  and  contemplation.  The  well-being  of  mankind 
and  the  cultivation  of  virtue  and  temperance  beyond 
its  borders  enlists  the  energies  of  its  members.  To-day 
a  Quaker  may  retain  his  membership  though  he  be  a 
Peer  or  a  Socialist,  though  he  be  a  theatre-goer  or  bear 
arms,  though  he  administer  oaths  or  be  a  musician, 
though  he  be  a  hymn-singing  evangelical  or  Bible  critic. 
Apart  from  the  justifiable  pride  in  the  traditions  of  the 
Society  and  a  desire  to  be  worthy  of  what  is  best  in 
them,  the  bond  that  still  holds  the  Society  together  is 
the  belief  in  the  immediate  power  of  the  peaceable 
Spirit  of  Christ  on  the  heart  without  the  intervention 
of  all  that  is  man-made  and  man-appointed,  and  the 
conviction  that  the  golden  rule  is  no  impracticable  ideal, 
but  one  that  can  be  and  is  to  be  applied  in  private  and 
public  life. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES 


OF 


EDWARD    PEASE,    b.    1767,    AND    OF 
RACHEL  HIS  WIFE. 


EDWARD    PEASE. 

1767  to  1858. 

HPHE  task  I  have  set  myself  is  not  to  write  biographies 
but  to  save  family  records  and  leave  the  material 
for  such  work  in  such  a  shape  that  a  history  of  my 
forefathers  will  be  possible.  The  labour  is  sufficient 
as  it  is,  and  will  at  least  enable  any  one  who  desires 
to  study  the  lives  of  bygone  generations  to  gain 
information  that  would  otherwise  be,  in  the  main, 
inaccessible,  and  much  of  which  could  only  be  gleaned 
at  the  same  expense  of  time  and  pains  that  it  has  cost 
me.  The  papers  and  letters  that  I  have  had  to  sort 
and  read  can  be  numbered  in  thousands,  and  I  have 
purposely  kept  more  than  appears  to  me  of  importance 
and  interest  and  destroyed  only  what  seemed  valueless. 
I  desire  however  to  give  some  outlines  of  the  lives  of 
those  I  have  to  deal  with,  and  leave  the  reader  to  fill 
in  the  details  from  the  diaries,  correspondence  and 
memoirs,  an  instalment  of  which  is  presented  in  this 
volume.* 

*  The  antecedent  history  of  Edward  Pease's  family  is  not  dealt 
with  in  this  volume.  It  will  be  sufficient  to  state  here  that  the  family 
was  descended  from  certain  Peases  of  Essex.  A  member  of  this  family 
settled  on  his  own  estate  at  Sikehouse,  near  Fishlake,  Yorkshire,  in  the 
reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  and  a  descendant  of  the  Sikehouse  Peases  is  found 
residing  on  his  own  lands  at  Pease  Hall,  Shafton  Green,  in  the  West 
Riding,  at  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century.  His  name  was  Joseph 
Pease  and  he  apparently  belonged  to  the  yeoman  or  small  landowning 
class.  This  Joseph  Pease  married  in,  1706,  Ann  Couldwell,  who  was 
heiress  in  her  issue  of  her  brothers  William  Couldwell,  of  Cudworth,  and 
Thomas  Couldwell,  of  Darlington.  Joseph  and  Ann's  son,  Edward, 
went  into  business  with  his  uncle,  Thomas  Couldwell,  at  Darlington, 
and  was  quite  settled  there  by  1744.  This  Edward  Pease  born  in  1711, 


44  EDWARD  PEASE. 

Edward  Pease  was  born  on  the  last  day  of  May, 
1767,  about  the  time  when  the  question  of  the  taxation 
of  the  American  Colonies  was  beginning  to  make  a  stir 
in  the  world.  He  would  be  nine  years  old  at  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  fifteen  years  old  when 
the  Independence  of  America  was  recognised,  twenty- 
six  when  the  French  Revolution  had  culminated 
in  the  execution  of  Louis  XVL,  twenty-eight  when 
the  British  took  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  from  the 
Dutch,  thirty  when  the  battles  of  Camperdown  and 
Cape  St.  Vincent  were  fought,  thirty-one  when  the 
Rebellion  broke  out  in  Ireland,  thirty-three  at  the  time 
of  the  Union  and  the  battles  of  the  Nile  and  Copenhagen, 
thirty-eight  when  Nelson  died  at  Trafalgar,  forty-eight 
when  the  Battle  of  Waterloo  was  won,  fifty-three 
when  George  IV.  ascended  the  throne,  sixty-three  at 
William  IV/s  accession,  seventy  when  Queen  Victoria 
succeeded,  eighty-seven  when  the  Crimean  War  began 
and  ninety-one  at  the  time  of  the  Indian  Mutiny. 

It  is  only  by  some  such  scale  that  I  can  measure  his 
long  life  and  realise  that  having  sat  on  his  knee  and 
taken  from  his  hand  the  spade  guinea  which  he  habit 
ually  gave  his  grand-children  and  great-grand-children, 
this  one  life  will  take  me  back  through  this  long  avenue 
of  history.  I  have  heard  my  father  say  that  he  had  a 
clear  recollection  of  talking  to  those  who  remembered 

had  married  in  1735  at  Raby  Meeting-house,  Elizabeth  Coates,  co 
heiress  of  Michael  Coates,  of  Caselee,  and  Langleyford,  County  Dur 
ham.  Thomas  Couldwell  retired  from  the  business  of  wool  combing 
in  favour  of  his  nephew  Edward,  and  in  his  will  did  not  forget  a  brother 
of  Edward  Pease's,  George  Pease.  This  George  Pease  though  also 
associated  in  business  with  his  brother  and  uncle,  and  with  the  Quakers 
of  Darlington,  does  not  appear  to  have  been  a  member  of  the  Society 
of  Friends,  as  he  joined  the  army  in  1740  and  fought  at  Culloden  in  1746, 
before  settling  down  at  Darlington.  The  eldest  son  of  Edward  Pease 
and  Elizabeth,  n6e  Coates,  was  Joseph  Pease,  born  1737.  He  married, 
in  1763,  Mary  Richardson  (the  eldest  daughter  of  Richard  Richardson, 
of  Kingston  on  Hull,  and  his  second  wife  Lydia  Richardson,  of  Great 
Ayton  in  Cleveland).  These  last  were  the  parents  of  Edward  Pease, 
born  1767,  the  subject  of  this  memoir. 


•a  •- 
I  I 


HIS  BIRTH  AND  HOME.  45 

Culloden  in  1746  and  especially  of  a  Darlington  old  lady 
who  had  helped  to  knit  woollen  waistcoats  for  the 
Hanoverian  troops  passing  through  with  the  Duke  of 
Cumberland's  army.  I  myself  can  remember  an  old 
woman  aged  108,  in  1864,  near  Inverness,  which  takes 
her  birth  farther  back  than  the  Battle  of  Plassey  (1757). 

Edward  Pease  was  born  in  the  house  of  his  parents, 
Joseph  and  Mary  Pease,  at  Darlington.  The  house, 
or  most  of  it,  is  still  standing  and  is  to-day  the  offices  of 
Messrs.  Lucas,  Hutchinson  and  Meek,  solicitors.  The  old 
garden  has  disappeared  and  the  town  has  grown  round 
it.  It  is  a  simple  red-brick,  red-tiled  house,  standing 
back  from  the  Market  Place  with  a  little  court-yard 
between  it  and  the  public  pavement.*  He  was  the 
eldest  son,  his  sister  Mary  being  the  eldest  child  (^1764, 
d.i82o).  The  other  children  were  Elizabeth  (b.i_77o, 
d.i8o6),  and  Joseph  Pease  (b.i772,  d.i846). 

Edward  Pease's  brother  Joseph  is  generally  referred 
to  as  Joseph  Pease  of  Feethams.  Joseph  married  (in 
1801)  first  Elizabeth  Beaumont  (who  died  1824),  an(i 

*  "  On  the  West  side  of  the  Bull  Wynd  was  and  still  is,  a  pleasant 
garden,  though  sadly  fallen  from  its  former  condition.  Many  years 
ago  here  lived  the  ancestors  of  the  senior  member  for  South  Durham 
(the  late  Sir  Joseph  W.  Pease) ,  and  wine  used  to  be  made  from  the  grapes 
growing  outside  the  house  by  Mrs.  Pease,  his  father's  great  grand 
mother  ;  opposite  was  a  smaller  garden  the  soil  of  which  is  now  covered 
by  the  outbuildings  of  the  Central  Hall  ;  in  it  very  fine  apricots  grew." 
(John  Bousfield's  Pleasant  Memories  of  Darlington.  Published  1881). 

In  1787  Hutchinson,  the  local  historian,  describes  Darlington  as  con 
sisting  of  "  several  streets  which  are  called  Norgate,  Briggate  and  Black- 
wellgate,  branching  out  of  the  great  square  where  the  market  is  held," 
and  "  one  that  runs  parallel  with  the  high  part  of  the  square  called 
Skinnergate,  and  another  parallel  with  the  south  row  called  Hungate — 
the  Bullweand  leads  from  the  market-place  to  Hungate — so  called  from 
the  figure  of  a  bull  against  the  corner  house,  which  anciently  belonged 
to  the  Bulmer  family  whose  cognisance  was  a  bull  passant,"  and  he 
goes  on  to  say  :  "  There  is  a  large  manufactory  carried  on  in  the  lower 
woollen  stuffs  "  called  :  "  tammeys,  moreens,  harateens,  chineas," 
also  "  a  great  manufactory  of  damasks,  diapers,  huckabacks,  checks, 
sheetcloth  with  other  linnens,"  and  that  "  it  is  computed  that  no  less 
than  i  ,000  looms  are  constantly  employed  here,"  and  "  daily  work  for 
multitudes  of  dyers,  spinners,  combers  and  children  who  wind  thread  and 
yarn." 


46  EDWARD  PEASE. 

from  this  marriage  are  descended  the  Peases  of  North 
Lodge,  Bushel  Hill,  Mowden,  Pendower,  Otterburn,  etc. 
He  afterwards  married  (in  1831)  Anna  Bradshaw,  who 
survived  him  about  ten  years.  By  this  second  marriage 
there  were  no  children.  Edward  Pease's  elder  sister 
Mary  died  single,  and  the  younger  sister  Elizabeth, 
married  (1798)  John  Hustler,*  of  Undercliff,  Bradford, 
Yorkshire,  but  bore  him  no  children. 

We  must  picture  Edward  Pease  as  a  small  boy  in 
the  old  north  country  market  town,  living  in  a 
substantial  house  very  plainly  furnished,  with  a  very 
affectionate  but  strict  and  pious  mother,  who,  though 
she  had  put  aside  the  world  and  was  to  be  a  minister 
in  the  Society,  must  have  understood  what  it  was  to 
be  youngf  and  had  a  tender  sympathy  with  the  joy 
and  spirit  of  youth.  It  is  difficult  from  the  scanty 
records  relating  to  his  father  to  judge  of  his  nature, 
character  and  appearance,  but  the  impression  left  on 
me,  from  such  allusions  as  I  have  heard  or  found, 
make  me  think  him  the  least  interesting  of  the 
line  from  which  I  am  sprung.  I  picture  him  as  a 
hard-working  man  of  business  and  a  careful  observer 
of  the  discipline  of  Friends,  somewhat  tried  by  his 
wife's  religious  activity,  mixing  little  socially  with 
any  outside  his  own  circle. J  Educated  better, 
judging  from  his  writing,  books  and  accounts,  than 
most  men  of  his  position,  but  interested  in  little 
outside  the  small  world  he  lived  in.  Still  he  is 

*  This  John  Hustler's  father,  John  Hustler,  d.  1790,  aged  seventy- 
five,  and  an  obituary  notice  of  him  may  be  read  in  the  Gentleman's 
Magazine.  John  Hustler,  Jun.,  who  married  Elizabeth  Pease,  had  a 
brother  William,  who  married,  1796,  Jane  Fell,  and  their  daughter 
Sarah  married  Charles  Fox,  of  Trebah,  Cornwall. 

f  I  have  her  own  account  of  her  youth  and  of  her  transformation 
from  a  rather  fashionable  young  lady  into  a  plain  Friend.  Vide 
Appendix  III. 

J  He  appears  to  have  had  a  bosom  friend  in  a  well-known  American 
Quaker,  David  Sands.  Some  of  their  correspondence  is  in  my  possession. 


SCHOOL  DAYS.  47 

always  alluded  to  with  affection  by  his  children, 
and  he  "  died  well,"  and  I  may  be  wrong  in  inter 
preting  the  tone  that  pervades  his  wife's  not  very 
flattering  allusions  to  him. 

Friends  even  in  those  days  paid  great  attention  to  the 
education  of  their  children.  Little  Edward  Pease  was 
sent  to  various  day  schools  till  he  was  eleven  years  old. 
From  his  own  account  and  the  contemptuous  references 
to  the  Horn  Book  teaching  then  in  vogue,  he  had  not 
learnt  much  under  Darlington  dames  and  masters.  By 
the  time  he  was  twelve  we  find  him  at  a  Boarding  School 
at  Leeds,  kept  by  Joseph  Tatham,  the  elder,  and  at 
fourteen  returning  home  well  educated  in  English,  with 
a  very  fair  knowledge  of  Latin,  proficiency  in  French, 
and  able  to  draw  and  paint  a  little.  I  have  not  a  few 
of  his  school  books,  and  they  show  where  he  learnt  to 
write  a  really  beautiful  clear  hand,  and  explain  how 
it  is  that  he  became  a  correct  writer  in  French,  and 
was  able  to  converse  in  that  language  in  his  interviews 
with  French  courtiers  and  ministers  in  Paris,  and 
when  travelling  on  the  Continent. 

There  were  few  openings  for  Quaker  boys  then,  except 
in  trade  or  in  agriculture,  and  at  fourteen  years  of  age 
he  was  entered  in  his  father's  business.*  This  business 
was  that  of  a  wool  merchant  and  weaving.  Whilst  his 
father  attended  markets  and  rode  round  the  country 
buying  the  fleeces  from  the  farmers  and  selling  the 
finished  woven  pieces  to  London  merchants  or  country 
consumers,  his  son  was  learning  the  business  from  the 
bottom.  He  went  through  the  wool  sorting  and  combing 
room,  sat  at  the  looms  and  learnt  the  process  of  the  dye- 
house. 

To  Friends  of  that  day,  even  those  sprung  from 
better  families  and  of  greater  wealth,  the  practice  was 
observed  of  avoiding  all  roads  to  pride  or  social  pretence. 

*  The  firm  also  did  a  banking  business.     Vide  Appendix  IV. 


48  EDWARD  PEASE. 

The  simple  life  was  practised.  Edward  Pease  enjoyed 
the  labour,  he  took  a  pleasure  in  business,  and  by  the 
time  he  was  eighteen  was,  to  quote  the  testimony  of 
the  Annual  Monitor,  "  travelling  on  horseback  from 
place  to  place  buying  and  selling  with  energy  and 
prudence."  The  firm  after  the  sons,  Edward  and 
Joseph,  were  taken  in  was  called  Joseph  Pease  and  Sons. 

His  business  life  did  not  occupy  his  whole  time, 
for  as  a  young  man  he  was  addicted  to  field 
sports  *  and  light  reading.  The  latter  frivolity  was 
a  failing  in  his  eyes,  with  which  he  oftentimes 
accuses  himself  in  his  old  age.  In  1857  we  find  him 
at  the  age  of  ninety  complaining  that  he  has  been  reading 
the  "  Travels  of  Dr.  Livingstone  "  instead  of  the  Bible. 
He  was  very  keen  about  his  gun  and  his  rod  and 
delighted  in  shooting  and  fishing  and  "  similar  amuse 
ments."  Little  trace  of  this  part  of  his  life  is  to  be 
found  amongst  what  he  has  left  behind.  He  parted 
with  his  greyhounds,  put  away  his  rod,  his  flintlock 
and  powder  horn  and  "  denied  himself  in  these  and 
similar  pursuits,  under  a  heart  tendering  sense  of  divine 
love,  that  as  a  Christian  he  was  called  to  a  closer  walk 
with  God,"  and  he  turned  from  light  reading  to  a  long 
course  of  study  of  the  best  authors  and  the  most 
serious  writers.  Throughout  his  life  he  exhibited  in 
conversation  a  well  informed,  disciplined  mind  and  a 
sound  and  shrewd  judgment  over  a  wide  field  of 
knowledge. 

The  following  I  found  among  Edward  Pease's  papers 
in  his  own  handwriting : 

*  In  a  letter  to  Joseph  Whitwell  Pease  written  in  August,  1849. 
after  regretting  various  things  in  his  grandson's  conduct  and  behaviour, 
but  "  influenced  by  the  warmest  desires  that  can  fill  his  bosom,"  he 
proceeds:  "Then  my  lov'd  Joseph,  from  some  expressions  dropt  by  one 
of  thy  younger  brothers  respecting  '  Joseph's  Greyhounds,'  I  feared 
thou  might  be  thinking  of  following  that  diversion, — it  once  had 
large  attractions  for  me  and  formed  a  part  of  my  mis-spent  time,  as 
well  as  shooting." 


HIS  EARLY  LIFE.  49 

On  meditating  on  the  gracious  dealings  of  my  heavenly 
father  with  me  and  the  attractive  influence  of  his  love  from 
my  very  early  days,  I  am  bound  to  commemorate  that  mercy 
which  during  the  days  of  my  early  life  and  when  much  exposed 
as  a  traveller*  in  the  prosecution  of  my  honord  fathers  business, 
preservd  me  from  the  pollutions  of  the  world  ;  for  divine 
grace  followed  me  and  a  constant  but  I  fear  a  very  feeble 
desire  was  maintained  that  I  might  be  a  good  man  and  walk 
in  a  way  well  pleasing  to  my  God,  and  this  state  of  watchful 
ness,  yet  not  constantly  kept  in  all  that  reverence  which  is 
due  to  the  visitations  and  loving  kindness  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  ever  restrained  me  and  was  a  voice  behind  me  and 
prevented  me  from  mixing  in  any  scenes  of  folly  or  ever 
going  to  any  places  of  publick  amusement. 

When  I  was  at  boarding  school,  being  a  great  reader, 
many  pernicious  books  of  novels,  etc.,  were  perused  by  me, 
but  thanks  to  him  without  whom  no  man  cometh  to  the 
father,  as  the  increased  measure  of  his  attractive  love  was 
felt,  the  baneful  efforts  of  such  reading  was  seen,  and  pious 
books,  the  writings  and  journals  of  our  early  friends,  became 
more  and  more  satisfactory  to  me,  and  the  taste  for  frivolous 
and  debasingly  captivating  books  ceased  ;  desires  for  my  own 
preservation  increased  and  I  became  more  and  more  anxious 
to  walk  uprightly,  and  serve  the  society  with  the  talents  my 
heavenly  father  had  given  me  ;  and  unworthy  as  I  was, 
my  father  in  heaven  ever  gracious  to  me,  gave  me  a  pious, 
precious  heavenly  minded  companion — a  lovely  form,  en 
riched  with  the  sweetest  of  natural  dispositions,  dignified 
and  enobled  in  their  exercise  by  a  tenderness  of  feeling  for  the 
poor  in  body  or  in  spirit,  all  being  done  under  the  influence 
of  the  good  spirit  which  was  richly  shed  abroad  in  her  sensitive 
mind  ;  her  virtuous  example  and  dispositions,  such  a  blessing 
to  me  and  our  beloved  offspring,  still  continue  to  be  blest 

*  "The  late  Edward  Pease,  of  Darlington,  who  had  travelled  much 
in  Scotland  in  his  youth,  used  to  relate  that  when  he  was  a  young  man, 
the  men  Friends  at  Aberdeen  were  wont  to  come  to  Meeting  in  their  or 
dinary  homespun  garments,  and  with  their  broad  blue  bonnets  on 
their  heads.  Some  friends  from  England  were  sadly  troubled  at  what 
they  thought  the  unorthodox  appearance  of  the  Friends,  and  laboured 
earnestly  with  them  till  they  induced  them  to  substitute  broad-brimmed 
«  beavers  '  for  their  bonnets."  Memorials  of  Hope  Park,  p.  35. 


50  EDWARD  PEASE. 

to  us,  by  her  who  is  blessed,  because  she  served  her  Lord, — 
may  her  many  weighty  powerful  fervent  petitions  offered  up  for 
us  in  private,  and  in  our  meetings,  be  of  continued  avail  to  us. 
Since  the  dear  deceased  has  been  taken  from  me  to  her 
heavenly   home,  increased  have   been  my   desires   and   my 
prayers,  that  my  life,  my  all,  might  be  more  and  more  tending 
to  fit  me  to  join  the  saints  above,  and  to  do  any  little  thing  to 
serve  my  Lord  or  his  church,  but  while  I  have  stood  in  the 
willingness,  I  feel  how  powerless  and  weak  and  insignificant 
every  service  of  mine  has  been,  and  altho'  many  of  these 
efforts  have  yielded  me  peace,  yet  neither  in  these,  nor  in  my 
progress  through  time,  has  it  been  granted  me  to  know,  that 
joy  and  fullness  of  comfort  &  consolation  that  has  been  bes 
towed  upon  many  ;  so  neither  have  the  reproofs  nor  condem 
nations  for  transgression  been  permitted  to  visit  me  in  that 
force  in  which  many  have  fell ;  it  may  be  that  he  who  giveth 
to  every  man  the  talents  of  his  Grace  severally  as  he  will ; 
&  who  hath  given  me  abundantly  for  my  salvation,  hath  yet 
in  a  more  limited  measure  given  unto  me,  &  my  state  may  be 
as  that  one  description  given  by  our  Lord  when  he  said, 
"  So  is  the  Kingdom  of  God,  as  if  a  man  should  cast  seed  into 
the  ground,  &  should  sleep,  and  rise  night  and  day,  and  the 
seed  should  spring  and  grow  up,  he  knoweth  not  how  ;    for 
the  earth  bringeth  forth  fruit  of  herself  ;   first  the  blade,  then 
the  ear,  after  that  the  full  corn  in  the  ear,"  that  however 
lowly  and  imperceptible  to  me  any  growth  of  Grace  in  me  may 
be,  yet  if  it  should  but  please  my  ever  blessed  Omnipotent 
Lord  that  there  should  be  found  in  me,  that  which  is  worthy 
to  be  gathered  into  his  Garner  ;   every  desire  of  my  soul  will 
be  reverently  thankfully  satisfied. 

When  twenty-nine  he  courted  and  won  Rachel 
Whitwell,  who  was  then  twenty-four  years  old. 

There  are  no  portraits  of  Rachel  Whitwell  as  a 
girl,  nor  is  there  any  description  of  her  appearance 
when  she  was  young,  beyond  that  she  was  fair,  and  in 
the  eyes  of  those  who  loved  her,  "  beautiful  in  form," 
and  having  "  the  very  sweetest  expression."  Such 
likenesses  of  her  as  exist  are  very  poor  and  taken 


RACHEL  WHITWELL.  51 

when  she  was  about  sixty  years  old.  From  her  letters 
she  appears  to  have  been  a  most  sympathetic  and  very 
gentle  woman.  She  kept  a  journal  which  seems  to 
have  been  destroyed  by  her  husband  before  his  death, 
as  I  have  not  been  able  to  trace  it.  Such  memoranda 
as  I  have  found  deal  with  little  else  but  her  spiritual 
state.  One  thing  seems  certain,  that  she  must  have 
been  a  most  lovable  woman  to  have  kindled  so  great 
and  so  lasting  a  devotion  in  Edward  Pease's  heart. 
There  is  ample  evidence  to  show  that  the  strict  piety 
of  Edward  Pease's  later  years,  as  revealed  in  his 
diaries,  was  largely  due  to  the  influence  of  her  saintly 
life  and  to  his  hope  that  in  following  her  here  his  spirit 
might  rejoin  hers  hereafter. 

Rachel  Whitwell  was  born  at  Kendal  in  1771. 
She  was  the  youngest  of  a  family  of  two  sons  and  four 
daughters.  Her  mother  Dorothy,  nee  Wilson,  died 
when  she  was  two  years  old  and  her  father,  John 
Whitwell,  in  1782,  when  she  was  eleven.  Her  mother, 
who  was  only  thirty-three  at  the  time  of  her  death, 
was  one  of  a  remarkable  group  of  sisters,*  whom  it 
may  be  worth  while  to  name,  for  so  many  of  them  and 
their  descendants  are  alluded  to  as  relations  in  the 
journals  and  family  correspondence. 

There  were  seven  of  these  Wilson  girls  living  at 
Kendal ;  Dorothy  married  John  Whitwell,  Deborah 
married  George  Braithwaite,  Rachel  married  Joseph 
Smith,  Elizabeth  married  Josiah  Messer,  Mary  married 
John  Abbot,  and  Margaret  married  Hadwen  Bragg. 

Little  Rachel  Whitwell  and  her  sister  Hannah, 
when  left  as  orphans,  found  a  home  with  one  of  their 
uncles  at  Kendal,  whilst  their  aunt  Abbot  f  did  all  in 

*  There  were  three  brothers,  the  eldest  of  whom,  John  Wilson, 
married  Sarah  Dilworth  and  left  numerous  descendants. 

f  Sarah  Abbot.  In  a  letter  addressed  to  his  granddaughter,  Jane 
Gurney  Pease,  and  alluding  to  Sarah  Abbot's  death  in  1843,  Edward 
Pease  dwells  at  great  length  on  her  beautiful  life  and  saintly  character 


52  EDWARD  PEASE. 

her  power  to  take  the  place  of  their  mother.  Their 
education  and  training  was  most  carefully  attended 
to  in  the  old-fashioned-way.  As  Rachel  grew  up  she 
was  apparently  called  on  to  contribute  from  her  own 
little  income  for  her  maintenance.  She  kept  correct 
and  careful  accounts  of  her  expenditure  and  receipts. 
She  contributed  between  £30  and  £40  annually  for 
what  she  terms  her  "  Board,"  whilst  her  bills  for 
clothes  would  surprise  girls  of  the  present  day.  The 
total  for  "  Cloaths  "  in  1794  is  £16  45.,  and  in  1795 
it  reaches  the  highest  figure,  £26  os.  8d.  Her  income 
at  this  time  seems  to  have  been  at  most  £130,  and  in 
one  or  two  years  only  £50,  but  she  manages  in  addition 
to  paying  for  her  "  Board,"  "  Cloaths,"  and  "  Travel 
ling,"  to  subscribe  to  a  Dispensary,  Friends'  Charities 
a  "  Lunatick  Asylum,"  and  other  benevolent  objects 
and  save  a  little  each  year.* 

In  1796  she  married  and  went  to  Darlington. 
She  became  more  and  more  serious  till  the  time  came 
when  she,  at  least  occasionally,  was  heard  in  Meetings 
for  Worship. 

Nothing  is  more  touching  in  Edward  Pease's  life 
than  his  love  and  admiration  for  his  wife.  While  she 
lived  and  during  the  long  years  he  was  a  widower, 
she  remains  the  centre  of  his  earthly  being,  retaining 

and  says,  in  addition  :  "  I  had  cause  to  love  her  and  revere  her  memory — 
thy  Grandmama  Pease  who  was  dearer  to  me  than  life,  while  yet  an 
infant  supported  at  the  maternal  breast,  was  deprived  of  her  who  had 
given  her  birth,  it  was  then  that  this  beloved  Aunt  became  the  foster- 
mother,  caring  and  watching  and  training  the  mind  of  her  to  virtue  and 
sincere  piety,  who  became  the  partner  of  all  my  joys  and  all  my  sorrow? 
.  .  .  and  this  dear  Aunt  had  after  this  the  guardianship  and  care 
of  three  successive  sets  of  Orphans  who  all  may  be  said  to  have  found 
in  her  all  that  maternal  solicitude  could  do  for  them,  eventually,  per 
sonally,  and  pecuniarily.  Indeed  she  was  an  admirable  woman  in 
exertion,  disinterestedness,  humility,  sincerity,  kindness,  benevolence, 
cheerfulness,  frankness,  and  hospitality.  I  never  knew  that  mind 
in  which  all  these  virtues  so  richly  dwelt ;  now  my  precious  child  con 
template  this  sketch." 

*  Some  of  the  items  may  interest  her  female  descendants  and  may 
be  seen  in  Appendix  V. 


BUSINESS  AND  OCCUPATIONS.  53 

to  the  end  her  influence  on  his  outward  and  inner 
life.  He  always  speaks  of  her  as  lovely  and  beautiful. 
Certainly  she  was  so  in  character,  and  in  the  refinement 
of  her  manners. 

I  have  heard  quoted  as  one  of  the  maxims  of 
Edward  Pease  "  when  thou  choosest  a  wife  choose 
one  with  a  good  natural  temper,  for  religion  comes  and 
goes,  but  a  good  natural  temper  remains."  There  is  a 
a  depth  of  worldly  wisdom  in  this  advice.  Consciously 
or  unconsciously  he  followed  it  himself,  and  nearly  forty 
years  of  perfectly  harmonious  married  life  was  his. 

A  great  proportion  of  Edward  Pease's  early  busi 
ness  life  was  spent  on  the  road,  riding  to  most  of  the 
wool-producing  parts  of  the  kingdom  to  purchase 
fleeces.  In  1815  I  find  him  at  Stirling,  with  his  son 
John,  then  about  eighteen  years  old,  writing  to  his  wife 
telling  her  that  John  enjoys  the  life  and  change  of 
scene  and  that  his  own  mind  seems  to  sound  for  him 
"  a  retreat  from  this  field  of  labour."  He  adds 

I  apprehend  I  am  about  the  age  my  much  lov'd  and 
honoured  father  was,  when  I  accompanied  him  to  this  place. 
He  had  come  into  Scotland  30  years,  and  now  after  I  also 
have  for  the  30  past  years  come  here,  I  look  with  some  hope 
and  satisfaction  to  not  having  many  more  journeys  of  this 
description. 

When  he  was  forty,  probably  some  years  before, 
he  was  becoming  more  serious  about  religious  matters 
and  had  abandoned  the  sports  of  the  field  for  the 
quieter  recreations  of  horticulture  and  fruit  growing.* 
To  the  end  of  his  life  he  took  a  great  interest  in  every 
thing  pertaining  to  the  garden  or  the  farm. 

Some  characteristic  extracts  from  his  letters  and 
memoranda  will  suffice  to  illustrate  the  period  of  his 
life  not  covered  by  the  diaries. 

*  In  Appendix  VI.  I  give  some  of  the  varieties  of  fruit  planted 
in  his  garden  at  the  beginning  of  last  century. 


54  EDWARD  PEASE. 

1811.     To  HAD  WEN  AND  MARGARET  BRAGG. 

3rd  mo.  25,  1811. 

Did  you  hear  of  Paul  Cuffee  a  black  friend  having  sailed 
from  America  in  his  own  vessel  (and  his  ship's  crew  all  black 
friends)  for  the  coast  of  Africa,  his  object  is  to  bring  the 
produce  of  that  country  to  London,  having  obtained  permis 
sion  from  the  Government  to  sell  it  at  a  low  rate  of  duty. 

This  same  year  the  question  of  being  appointed 
an  "  elder  "  in  the  Society  is  mooted  and  seems  to 
have  led  to  quite  a  heated  controversy  between  those 
who  thought  him  a  suitable  candidate  and  those  who 
did  not.  He  writes  to  Had  wen  Bragg  : 

I  cannot  but  wish  friends  would  leave  my  name  out  of  the 
nomination,  though  I  do  not  understand  that  the  establish 
ment  of  inquisitorial  tribunals  for  the  investigation  of  private 
character  is  either  sanctioned  by  our  discipline  or  founded 
on  Gospel  love  ;  I  am  not  dealt  with  as  a  delinquent  in  a 
meeting  capacity,  neither  am  I  treated  with  in  private  and 
tenderness,  but  as  a  character  held  up  for  detractive  inference 
and  unqualified  surmise.  I  pretend  not  to  that  stability  of 
walk  which  is  free  from  every  mis-stepping,  but  I  have  noth 
ing  to  hide  nor  anything  to  fear  from  any  earthly  tribunal. 

When  the  fight  grew  still  hotter  Joseph  Gurney  (of 
the  Grove,  Norwich)  came  to  pour  oil  on  the  troubled 
waters,  and  earns  Edward  Pease's  gratitude,  who 
quotes  Isaac  Stephenson's  remark  that 

Joseph  Gurney  was  like  a  wall  round  about  us,  so  we  see  as 
we  did  in  Benjamin  Flounder's  case  who  having  aid,  through 
the  coming  in  of  Luke  Howard  and  Uncle  Bragg,  assistance 
comes  into  our  torn  monthly  meeting  at  the  needful  time. 

He  states  that  he  has  been  the  mark  for  the  archers 
to  shoot  at  and  that  as  the  want  of  unanimity  was  all 
on  his  account  he  solicited  the  meeting  to  free  him 


1812  APPOINTED  AN  ELDER.  55 

from  the  appointment  and  so  withdrew  from  the 
assembly.  The  meeting  adjourns  for  a  month  the 
further  consideration  of  the  subject. 

In  this  exceedingly  uncomfortable  state  am  I  taken  as 
from  tribunal  to  tribunal  certainly  not  in  a  way  to  exalt 
me, — but  when  I  consider  the  parties,  and  how  for  years  they 
have  treated  me,  no  surprize  attends  me. 

Finally  he  is  appointed  an  elder  and  faithfully 
discharges  for  many  years  the  delicate  and  important 
duties  of  this  unsought  for  position  in  the  Society. 

In  1812  he  takes  a  great  deal  of  interest  in  the 
preaching  of  Stephen  Grellet  and  the  budding  influence 
of  Joseph  John  Gurney.  He  describes  some  of  Stephen 
Grellet's  meetings ;  one  at  Buxton, 

brought  about  3,000  persons  together  in  a  small  square  field 
where  for  about  2j  hours  S.  G.  declared  truth,  great  and 
attentive  stillness  prevailed,  and  many  were  the  expressions 
of  satisfaction  heard  from  the  auditory ;  the  preparatory 
conflict  which  this  dear  Friend  had  which  he  compared 
to  one  leading  to  the  Stake,  was  I  understand  crowned  finally 
with  great  sweetness  and  peace. 

At  another  meeting,  with  the  Jews, 

about  1600  attended,  conducting  themselves  pretty  orderly 
during  the  silence  ;  when  S.  G.  had  stood  sometime,  consider 
able  restlessness  took  place  and  so  many  going  out  a  degree  of 
discouragement  was  felt  by  S.  G.,  but  this  soon  subsided, 
and  the  sequel  proved  that  so  general  was  their  satisfaction 
and  approbation  with  that  which  he  was  communicating 
that  they  had  gone  out  to  collect  and  bring  in  more  of  their 
bretheren. 

Of  Joseph  John  Gurney  he  writes : — 

Joseph  Gurney  read  a  very  pleasant  letter  to  us  from  his 
nephew  Joseph  John  Gurney  to  whom  his  Uncle  had  wrote 


56  EDWARD  PEASE.  1813 

rather  largely  on  the  subject  of  the  Supper.  J.  J.  G's  reply 
was  an  agreeable  one,  expressing  some  solemnity  of  regard  for 
it ;  but*  without  a  belief  of  its  being  needful  for  him  to  become 
a  communicant.  Should  this  veil  of  attachment  to  outward 
ordinance  which  seems  to  linger  in  J.  J.  G's  mind  be  completely 
rent  by  his  feeling  an  inward  and  spiritual  communion  with 
Christ  being  indeed  come,  and  having  taken  up  His  abode 
in  his  soul,  so  that  a  perpetuation  of  outward  ordinance  was 
no  longer  needful  in  remembrance  of  Him,  what  a  shining 
Ornament  in  our  Society  would  Joseph  John  become." 

In  the  following  year  I  find  many  allusions  to  the 
work  done  in  the  prisons,  the  "  abodes  of  misery  and 
indescribable  wretchedness,"  by  Stephen  Grellet  and 
Elizabeth  Fry.  The  next  is  a  rather  curious  passage  in 
one  of  his  letters. 

Mary  Dudley  has  had  a  meeting  at  Windsor  at  which  most 
of  the  distinguished  persons  of  the  place  and  in  the  vicinity 
were  present,  several  from  the  Castle,  by  all  accounts  it  was  a 
memorable  season,  and  after  a  powerful  convinceing  testi 
mony  she  was  favord  in  an  extraordinary  manner  in  supplica 
tion,  supplicating  for  the  King  with  a  power  and  solemnity 
that  tendered  almost  all  present,  the  covering  over  the  meeting 
was  represented  as  being  marvellous  ;  she  has  since  acknow 
ledged  she  had  never  experienced  the  like  descending  of 
divine  empowering  influence  ;  a  person  present  penned  this 
prayer  from  memory  and  presented  it  to  the  Queen,  who  shed 
many  tears  in  perusing  it,  and  despatched  the  Lord  in  waiting 
(Harewood)  with  messages  of  kindness  to  M.  D.,  directing 
that  every  comfort  and  accommodation  might  be  granted 
her  :  A  clergyman  who  was  there  spoke  to  her  at  the  close 
of  the  meeting  offering  his  church,  and  I  think  added  he  was 
convinced  beyond  all  doubt  that  she  was  commissioned  to 
preach  the  everlasting  gospel  and  enquiring  where  she  lived, 
said  if  she  came  to  his  place  which  he  named  he  would  give 
her  every  information  etc.  She  replied  she  had  not  been  without 
some  thought  of  going  there,  and  soon  after  went  and  a  season 
of  favor  was  again  witnessed.  The  same  also  at  Staines,  where 


i8i4  THE  CZAR  AND  THE  FRIENDS.  57 

being  largely  engaged  and  much  exhausted  she  fainted  near 
the  close  of  the  meeting  :  on  reviving  and  looking  up  she  saw 
the  same  clergyman  standing  over  her,  exclaimed  ''Art  thou 
there."  He  replied,  "  Yes,  and  what  is  far  the  better  the  Lord 
is  here  also." 

In  1814  a  more  distinguished  personage  arouses 
Edward  Pease's  attention — the  Czar  of  Russia.  I 
find  many  allusions  to  the  almost  Quaker  Emperor  : — 

EDWARD  AND  RACHEL  PEASE  TO  HADWEN  AND 
MARGARET  BRAGG. 

6th  mo.  26th,  1814. 

I  will  advert  to  some  tidings  which  have  reached  us  res 
pecting  the  Emperor  of  Russia  as  I  cannot  but  admire  his  no 
bility,  his  humility  and  condescension  :  he  proposed  to  accom 
pany  W.  Allen  to  Westminster  metg.  accompanied  by  his 
Sister  the  duchess  of  Oldenburgh,  putting  W.A.  in  the  coach 
before  himself,  in  meeting  he  behaved  becomingly  and 
attentively,  shaking  hands  with  men  frds  under  the  gallery  at 
the  conclusion  of  the  meeting,  and  crossed  over  to  do  the  same 
with  the  female  frds  as  did  the  duchess  :  The  audience  he  gave 
S  Grelett,  W  A  and  Jno  Wilkinson  lasted  about  an  hour, 
conversing  frankly  on  serious  and  religious  subjects,  ex 
pressing  his  satisfaction  with  the  address  they  had 
presented,  saying  he  had  read  it  many  times  over, 
dropping  the  tear  of  tenderness  he  acknowledged  himself 
a  poor  humble  instrument  in  the  divine  hand,  made  use  of 
in  restoring  peace  to  Europe.  His  just  sentiments  on  prayer 
were  striking,  remarking  he  could  find  no  one  he  could  con 
verse  with  on  religious  subjects,  but  his  Sister;  he  regreted 
he  had  to  pass  so  considerable  a  part  of  his  time  in  a 
manner  so  unsatisfactory  to  himself,  he  wished  if  any  frds 
went  on  a  religious  visit  to  Russia,  they  would  at  once  make 
themselves  known  to  him  without  waiting  for  any  intro 
duction — all  this  appears  to  indicate  a  character  I  trust  richly 
acquainted  with  divine  goodness — may  he  be  preserved  and 
his  knowledge  and  faithfulness  encrease. 


58  EDWARD  PEASE.  1814 

EDWARD  AND  RACHEL  PEASE  TO  THE  SAME. 

6th  mo.  $oth,  1814. 

We  expect  many  frds  tomorrow,  Cos  Mary  Birkbeck  & 
Chas  Parker,  Cos  G  Stacey  jun  &  S  Grellet.  I  did  not  when 
I  wrote  you  4  or  5  days  ago  expect  I  should  see  the  "  friend 
and  Brother  "  of  the  Emperor,  for  so  he  designated  S  G  at 
parting — S  G  at  the  Emperor's  request  had  given  some  account 
of  his  early  life  which  Alexander  remarked  in  some  degree 
resembled  his  own,  but  that  he  (S  G)  had  obtained  a  safely 
settled  interest  in  heaven  whilst  he  had  to  contend  against 
the  temptations  of  time  surrounding  on  every  hand,  remark 
ing  he  was  of  the  same  faith  and  a  fellow  believer  in  spiritual 
worship,  that  in  his  daily  prayers  he  used  no  set  form  of 
words,  but  as  the  divine  spirit  gave  him  aid  so  was  his  prayer  ; 
that  his  Sister  so  united  with  him,  that  he  considered  her  as  a 
special  gift  of  heaven. 

The  following  letter  is  worth  preserving  too  : 

Substance  of  a  letter  from  M.  A.  Deane,  Tutoress  in 
Nathaniel  Rickman's  family,  to  her  parents. 

Auberstone,  26th  of  6th  mo.  1814. 
DEAR  PARENTS, 

I  must  date  my  letter  the  26th  tho'  it  is  the  27th.  I 
write  it,  that  being  a  day  I  shall  ever  remember,  for  on  that 
day  I  received  a  shake  of  the  hand  from  an  Emperor,  and  a 
kiss  from  the  Grand  duchess  of  Oldenburgh.  On  first  day 
morning  we  placed  ourselves  at  the  front  gate,  in  expectation 
of  seeing  them  on  their  way  to  Dover,  and  shortly  after  saw  a 
number  of  Foreign  carriages  ;  those  in  them  bowed  to  us, 
and  we  nodded  to  them.  After  a  time  the  King  of  Prussia 
passed  by  with  his  two  sons  ;  the  King  bowed  to  us  and  we 
acknowledged  the  favour.  Finding  it  would  be  some  time 
before  the  Emperor  came  we  went  to  dinner,  after  which 
Nathl.  Rickman  said  he  should  like  to  go  to  Horsebridge,  but 
I  said  as  there  were  crowds  of  people  there,  it  would  be  more 
respectable  to  be  seen  at  home,  little  thinking  who  we  should 
entertain  :  we  therefore  returned  to  our  post,  and  walked 
about  before  the  house,  till  we  might  see  some  of  the  carriages 


1814     THE  CZAR  VISITS  A  QUAKER  FAMILY.         59 

coming  : — they  made  their  appearance,  and  we  were  directed 
to  look  into  the  second  carriage  for  the  Emperor.  There 
was  a  female  with  him,  whom  I  directly  knew  to  be  the 
duchess  of  Oldenburgh.  The  Emperor  was  looking  at  a  map, 
but  observing  us,  he  immediately  called  out  "  Halt,  Halt." 
The  horses  stopped,  and  he  jumped  out,  and  came  towards 
us  with  the  air  of  a  gentleman,  and  inquired  if  we  were  quakers? 
we  said  we  were  ;  "  was  it  a  quaker  house  ?  "  we  replied  it 
was  ;  "  might  they  see  it  ?  "  Nathl.  Rickman  said  "  cer 
tainly."  He  then  turned  to  the  duchess  and  said,  "  Oni, 
Oni"*;  she  immediately  got  out  of  the  carriage,  and  held  out 
both  her  hands  to  Mary  Rickman  and  me,  and  said,  "  how 
do  you  do  ?  I  am  glad  to  see  you."  The  Emperor  then 
shook  hands  with  us,  and  taking  hold  of  Mary  Rickman  led 
her  into  the  house,  and  the  duchess  taking  Nathl.  Rickman's 
arm,  they  came  into  the  best  parlour,  where  they  had  some 
refreshment.  They  inquired  of  Mary  Rickman  how  many 
children  she  had,  and  if  I  were  their  daughter.  They  then 
went  into  the  back  parlour,  and  said,  "  how  neat  it  is."  The 
duchess  wished  to  go  up  stairs,  and  turning  to  Nathl.  Rickman 
said,  "come,  sir,  come";  the  duchess  took  Mary  Rickman 
and  went  into  the  best  room.  They  remarked,  "  this  is  for 
your  visitors, — which  is  your  own  room  ?  "  which  they  were 
shewn,  and  also  the  school  room — they  then  went  down  stairs 
into  the  great  parlour,  where  I  had  time  to  examine  their 
countenances,  and  I  think  I  never  saw  one  in  which  every 
thing  that  is  good  was  more  observable  than  in  the  Emperor's. 
He  was  open,  generous,  and  polite  in  his  manner,  and  affec 
tionate  in  his  address.  They  have  both  so  won  our  hearts, 
that  I  am  sure  we  shall  never  forget  them.  The  Emperor  is 
a  very  well  made,  handsome  man,  and  when  he  rose  to  take 
leave  of  "us,  what  shall  I  compare  it  to  ?  I  do  not  know, 
unless  to  fond  parents  taking  leave  of  their  children,  for  it 
could  not  be  more  affectionate.  The  Emperor  kissed  the 
cheeks  of  Nathl.  Rickman  and  the  boys,  and  the  hands  of 
Mary  Rickman,  the  girls,  and  myself.  The  duchess  kissed 
us,  and  the  girls,  and  shook  hands  with  Nathl.  Rickman  ; 

*  In  the  original  it  is  not  clear  whether  "Oni"  is  a  familiar  ap 
pellation  of  the  Duchess  or  intended  for  "  Oui."  I  incline  to  think  the 
former. 


60  EDWARD  PEASE.  1815 

they  both  wished  us  good  bye,  and  farewell.  The  Emperor 
turned  round  just  as  he  got  into  the  carriage,  and  said,  "  Re 
member  me  to  your  brothers  and  friends — we  are  going  into 
Russia — it  is  a  long  way,  but  you  will  not  forget  us."  We 
assured  him  we  should  not ;  I  am  sure  I  never  shall.  He 
inquired  of  N.  and  M.  Rickman  their  names.  They  both 
speak  English,  and  understand  it  very  well.  The  Emperor 
was  dressed  in  a  plain  brown  coat,  of  the  English  make,  and 
the  duchess  in  a  lustre  and  shawl,  put  on  just  as  we  wear 
ours  ;  a  bonnet,  and  feather  half  a  yard  high,  of  the  Russian 
make.  Their  coachman  was  the  drollest  looking  man  I  ever 
saw  ;  he  had  a  long  beard.  I  carried  him  out  some  ale,  upon 
which  he  took  a  brush  and  brushed  the  dust  off  his  beard 
before  he  drank,  and  patted  his  breast  and  bowed.  I  also 
gave  the  Prince  Regent's  servants  some  ale  ;  they  said  we 
had  such  an  honour  done  us,  as  thousands  would  have  given 
hundreds  of  pounds  to  have  had.  The  Foreign  carriages  are 
the  ugliest  things  I  ever  saw  for  such  great  folks.  I  must  tell 
you  more  in  my  next.  Farewell — I  shall  always  use  that 
word,  because  the  Emperor  and  duchess  did. 

MARY  ANN  DEANE. 

The  relationship  between  the  Czar  Alexander  and 
Friends  is  so  remarkable  that  I  give  some  of  the  docu 
ments  kept  by  Edward  Pease  in  Appendix  VII. 

The  early  part  of  1815  was  a  time  of  panic  and 
trouble  for  those  in  business,  and  Edward  Pease  left 
home  to  visit  various  places  to  look  after  the  interests 
of  his  family.  He  writes  : — 

I  found  every  where  a  remarkable  torpor  at  Leeds  and 
Manchester,  London  seemed  palsied  by  the  empty  coffers  of 
the  Bankers,  and  from  some  of  them  I  learnt  that  there  were 
establishments  with  you  and  around  you  that  could  not 
weather  the  storm,  as  they  could  receive  little  or  no 
help  from  the  city  ;  and  the  confidence  of  the  country  was  so 
withdrawn  from  houses  of  the  highest  standing  that  a  twenty- 
four  hours  suspension  is  reported  to  have  taken  place  in 
Gurney  and  Go's  branch  at  Lynn. 


1816  THE  DARLINGTON  MILLS  BURNT  DOWN.       61 

Sarah  Hustler,  writing  to  him  this  year  (1815), 
says 

I  have  had  from  my  dear  Eliza  Coggeshall  pleasant 
tidings  of  her  safe  arrival  in  the  bosom  of  her  own  family.  .  . 
After  a  tedious  and  trying  passage  of  83  days  (from  America) 
four  weeks  of  which  they  were  in  short  allowance  having 
bread  by  weight  and  water  by  measure,  many  storms,  and  hard 
gales  and  hard  winds  had  been  their  portion,  but  she  appears 
to  have  been  most  tried  by  the  conduct  of  some  of  their  fellow 
passengers  who  drank  to  excess  and  used  much  profane  lan 
guage. 

Such  letters  as  these  explain,  in  some  degree, 
expressions  of  anxiety  which  otherwise  seem  ex 
aggerated,  in  Edward  Pease's  allusions  to  parting  with 
his  relations  and  friends  who  go  to  visit  America. 

1816.  In  a  letter  discussing  the  Holy  Alliance 
he  adds  : 

I  suppose  you  may  have  heard  of  a  religious  people  in 
Russia,  the  Duobortisi.  A  few  years  ago  the  Emperor  sent 
this  class  of  religious  into  the  government  of  Wiborg  among  the 
Finns,  who  could  not  converse  with  them  ;  they  are  distributed 
among  the  poor  peasants,  or  were  so,  and  not  allowed  their 
place  of  abode  or  to  seek  work  anywhere  ;  all  their  religious 
books  and  Bibles  were  taken  from  them  that  they  might  be 
instructed  in  the  religion  of  the  Greek  Church. 

He  proceeds  to  detail  the  efforts  Friends  in  England 
are  making  on  their  behalf,  and  to  assist  them  to 
return  to  their  homes  among  the  Don  Cossacks. 

This  year  the  family  business  receives  a  blow 
through  the  destruction  of  the  Darlington  mills  by 
fire. 

The  first  of  consolations  (for  these  are  only  left  to  flee  to) 
is  the  humble  thankful  acknowledgement  that  no  life  has  been 
lost,  nor  any  personal  accident  befallen  any  one  ;  to  us  the 
accident  is  heavy,  but  feelings  dwell  less  on  that,  than  the 
thought  of  600  persons,  poor  men,  women  and  children  so 


62  EDWARD  PEASE.  1819 

suddenly  thrown  out  of  employ,  or  a  livelihood,  at  a  time  so 
difficult.  The  ways  of  divine  providence  are  a  great  deep,  and 
perhaps  a  circumstance  mixed  with  great  suffering  to  the  poor 
is  less  scrutable  than  one  where  alone  the  weight  would  fall 
on  ourselves.  These  things  we  must  leave  with  the  query, 
Shall  not  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  do  right  ? 

6th  mo,    i2th,    1819. 

From  what  I  see  and  hear  I  fear  our  valued  relations  here 
are  about  to  be  plunged  into  great  perplexity  and  distress,  so 
great  a  run  on  the  bank  and  their  Bank  paper  being  soon  ex 
hausted,  they  tendered  the  notes  of  other  banks  which,  in  some 
instances,  were  accepted, — Cos  E  B.  [Edward  Backhouse] 
is  expected  from  London  to  bring  a  supply  with  him,  and  at 
Sunderland  they  have  closed  until  this  come. 

nth  mo.  26th,  1819. 

The  national  difficulty  there  is  just  now  for  want  of  silver  is 
much  felt  by  us  ;  how  do  you  get  along,  we  represented  to  the 
house  in  Lombard  Street  the  trouble  we  had  to  get  our  work 
men's  wages  paid  ;  they  sent  our  letter  to  Lord  Liverpool 
who  had  kindly  ordered  the  mint  to  send  us  500^  the  disposi 
tion  to  hoard  has  soon  taken  it  up,  so  that  we  are  resorting  to 
checks  on  J  Backhouse  and  Co  for  55.  ea,  they  to  give  a 
one  pound  note  for  four  of  them. 

EDWARD  PEASE  TO  HADWEN  AND  MARGARET  BRAGG. 

2nd  mo.  2nd,  1819. 

A  report  is  in  circulation  and  said  to  be  quite  authentic  that 
the  Prince  Regent,  Earl  Sidmouth  and  another  nobleman, 
drove  to  the  door  of  a  ministering  friend  ;  when  the  prince  after 
making  many  apologies  stated  that  being  unable  to  hear  un 
disguised  truth,  asked  the  friend  if  he  would  answer  him  one 
question.  "  If  it  is  not  against  my  conscience  I  will,"  was  the 
reply.  "  Then  do  you  think,  and  does  the  world  think  that, 
in  the  existing  separation  between  the  princess  and  myself, 
that  I  am  to  blame,  or  the  princess  ?  "  "  Thyself,"  was 
the  answer.  After  many  apologies  and  thanks,  they  drove 


MARY     1'KASK. 
oh.   1X2=;.     act.  2 


1825          DEATH  OF  HIS  TWO  CHILDREN.  63 

off.     The   Princess,   soon   after  this,   was   sent   for  to  this 
Kingdom. 

In  Edward  Pease's  accounts  there  are  suggestive 
items  such  as,  to  take  examples  from  May,  1823  : 

Hay  taken  for  Church  Cess  beyond  the  amount  charged 
on  me  £28  55.  8d.  Posting  to  and  from  London  £53  155.  6d. 

A  similar  entry  to  the  last  recurs  each  year 
when  he  goes  up  to  attend  the  Yearly  Meeting.  When 
he  is  there  in  this  particular  year  there  is  a  curious 
medley  of  purchases,  while  in  town,  including  umbrellas 
and  such  articles  as  "  half-a-dozen  silk  hose,  £2  175." 
"  i  dozen  Cocoa  Nuts  and  bag  £o  75.  6d.,"  "  2  silver 
Ladles,  £2  is.  od." 

In  October,  1825,  his  sister  Mrs.  John  Hustler  died, 
and  he  feels  her  death  acutely.  Her  death  followed, 
within  a  fortnight,  that  of  his  son  Isaac,  and  Isaac's 
that  of  his  daughter  Mary,  at  the  age  of  23,  in  May  of 
the  same  year.  Mary  had  for  several  years  given  her 
parents  anxiety  and  for  some  time  previous  to  her 
death  on  the  30th  May,  they  had  abandoned  all  hope 
of  her  recovery.  In  speaking  of  her  death  he  says  : 

She  was  through  the  whole  of  her  illness  most  gently  led  on 
and  spared  the  suffering  which  thousands  have  to  pass  through, 
though  the  final  separation  came  upon  us  as  a  flood  overtaking 
us  before  we  were  aware.  .  .  .  she  was  truely  to  us  a  lo vely 
plant  and  the  chasm  in  our  home  circle  must  be  long  and 
painfully  felt.  I  am  also  conscious  of  tender  mercy  in 
preparing  our  minds  for  the  sad  parting,  yet  the  aweful  stroke 
which  set  at  liberty  the  precious  spirit  will  call  forth  the 
poignant  pang — all  nature  trembles — but  my  soul  must 
wonder  and  adore. 

And  then  he  goes  on  to  refer  to  Isaac,  having 
shown  the  same  alarming  symptoms.* 

*  Apparently,  both  these  children  died  from  consumption. 


64  EDWARD  PEASE.  1832 

I  scarcely  know  how  patiently  to  bear  up  or  to  sustain  the 
possibility  of  a  second  bereavement  awaiting  us. 

We  will  pass  over  the  weeks  of  alternating  hopes 
and  fears  between  May  and  September.  In  the 
father's  pocket  book  is  the  simple  entry  : 

cfih  mo.,  27.  My  beloved  son  Isaac  departed  this  life  with 
consoling  faith  that  his  heavenly  father  had  prepared  a  blessed 
mansion  for  him,— 

and  another  on  "  10  mo  i  "  that  he  is  "  laid  by  the  side 
of  his  sister,  my  beloved  Mary." 

These  sorrows  are  necessary  to  allude  to,  for  in  his 
own  words  they  deepened  his  "  religious  life  and 
experience  and  diminished  the  estimate  and  value  of 
all  visible  created  objects." 

1832.  Though  I  pass  over  many  years  in  the  life  of 
Edward  Pease  in  this  sketch,  the  picture  of  the  Quaker 
ism  in  which  he  lived  would  not  be  complete  enough 
without  an  allusion  to  the  attitude  of  his  own  and  the 
Society's  to  public  life.  It  is  almost  incomprehensible 
to  us,  in  our  day,  how  great  a  commotion  the  bare  idea 
of  a  Quaker  standing  for  Parliament  caused  in  the 
Society  of  Friends.  There  is  a  file  of  correspondence 
exhibiting  the  tremendous  opposition  that  Joseph 
Pease  had  to  encounter  when  he  first  entertained  the 
idea  of  entering  Parliament,  the  heaviest  being  from 
his  own  nearest  relations  and  his  mother-in-law  Jane 
Gurney.  The  strongest  arguments  that  Edward  Pease 
could  use  to  dissuade  his  son  were  used  at  the  outset, 
but  once  assured  of  the  absolute  purity  and  sincerity 
of  Joseph  Pease's  motives,  of  his  loyalty  to  the  prin 
ciples  in  which  he  had  been  reared,  and  of  his  intention 
to  bear  witness  to  them  in  the  face  of  ridicule  and  in 
all  events,  he  did  not  further  interfere.  The  following 
passage  in  a  letter  from  Joseph  to  his  brother  John 
Pease  exhibits  Edward  Pease's  views  at  the  outset : 


1832  THE  FIRST  QUAKER  M.P.  65 

Calling  this  morning  upon  my  beloved  and  honoured 
Father  he  made  several  affectionate  remarks  to  me  on  the  part 
I  have  already  taken  respecting  the  approaching  Election,  but 
more  pointedly  attending  to  certain  reports,  he  expressed  his 
decided  opinion  that  unless  I  was  wholly  regardless  of  all 
parental  counsel,  the  advice  of  all  my  best  friends,  the  domestic 
happiness  of  my  family,  my  duties  as  a  husband  and  a  parent, 
and  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  I  could  not  for  a 
moment  entertain  the  idea  of  yielding  under  any  contingency 
to  become  a  representative  of  my  countrymen  in  Parliament 
.  .  .  he  seemed  astonished  that  there  could  exist  a  doubt 
in  my  mind  as  to  the  wisest  and  safest  course  .  .  . 

During  this  trying  and  worrying  time  it  is  refreshing 
to  find  that  some  of  his  Backhouse  relations  and  that 
even  in  a  meeting  for  worship  a  Minister,  Caleb  Wilson, 
stood  up  for  him  and  said  that  his  sympathy  was  so 
strong  "  that  he  had  felt  nearer  to  him  than  any 
relation,  bone  of  his  bone  and  flesh  of  his  flesh/' 

The  Friends  discuss  the  subject  so  long  in  a  Monthly 
Meeting  that  they  have  to  adjourn  to  an  inn  where 
the  business  was  re-opened  by  Jonathan  Backhouse, 
Joseph's  brother-in-law,  declaring  that  he  did  not 
dispute  the  step,  that  he  believed  the  time  would 
come  when  Friends  would  be  called  more  openly  to 
come  forward,  that  some  one  must  open  the  door  and 
now  might  be  the  time.  "  Father  Pease  "  announced 
that  he  had  had  his  say  and  proceeded  to  advise  Joseph 
to  make  up  his  mind  without  being  talked  into  it  or 
out  of  it  by  his  friends,  and  they  finally  agree  that  they 
are  to  use  their  influence  to  prevent  "  displays  "  of 
popular  feeling,  drinking  and  lampooning,  and  "  all 
parted  in  great  love."  Joseph  writing  to  calm  his 
mother-in-law,  Jane  Gurney's  feelings  says  : 

The  day  of  trial  has  arrived,  a  requisition  which  leaves  me  no 
doubt,  as  to  the  majority  has  been  presented  to  me.  I  have 
answered  it — That  I  will  not  canvass,  I  will  not  ask  one  man 


66  EDWARD  PEASE.  1833 

for  his  vote,  I  will  go  to  no  expense,  I  will  both  in  and  out  of 
Parliament  unflinchingly  support  my  practice  and  my  pro 
fession  as  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends  ;  if  elected  under 
these  circumstances  I  will  endeavour  to  serve  them  faithfully. 
I  have  counted  the  cost  I  trust — sacrifices  in  business,  in  ease, 
in  quiet,  in  domestic  comfort,  but  in  my  conclusion,  after  intense 
bitterness,  I  have  been  peaceful  and  comfortable.  How  much 
is  my  heart  torn  in  thinking  that  distress  and  dismay  may 
cover  thy  mind  in  reading  these  lines  ;  if  I  am  right,  mayst 
thou  be  permitted  to  see  it  and  feel  it.  If  I  am  wrong,  mayst 
thou  be  enabled  to  put  up  thy  prayers  with  mine  for  help  in 
danger  and  in  difficulty.  .  .  My  dear  Parents,  Brothers 
and  Sisters  have  not  dared  to  set  their  faces  against  it. 

1833  may  be  said  to  have  been  the  most  marked 
year  in  Edward  Pease's  long  life.  In  October  he  and 
his  wife  had  gone  to  stay  with  their  cousins  Wilson  and 
Margaret  Crewdson,  at  Plymouth  Grove,  Manchester. 
One  night  she  fell  in  her  room  and  struck  her  head  ; 
concussion  of  the  brain  followed  a  few  hours  after 
what  was  considered  at  first  a  slight  accident.  She 
died  the  following  day  (the  i8th  of  October),  very 
suddenly.  With  him  by  her  side,  her  hand  in  his,  she 
passed  out  of  his  life,  "  as,"  he  writes  to  his  children 

the  infant  sinks  to  rest  so  peacefully  the  purified  spirit  of  my 
greatest  earthly  treasure,  your  blessed  mother,  took  its  flight  to 
its  mansion  of  glory. 

Writing  to  Jane,  the  widow  of  Joseph  Gurney,  a 
little  more  than  a  month  later,  he  alludes  to 

the  cup  filled  with  the  wine  of  astonishment  which  she  has  had 
to  drink,  and  adds,  "  and  now  in  the  ordering  of  heavenly 
wisdom  that  cup  having  become  mine,  it  has  introduced  into 
all  the  avenues  of  sorrow  into  which  no  eye  penetrates  ;  no  foot 
treads  ;  nor  any  heart  feels ;  but  such  as  have  had  the  same 
administered  and  given  them  to  drink  also. 

In  this  letter  he  asserts  that  the  "  heavenward 
path  "  which  his  "  treasure  (his  wife)  had  to  walk  in 


JOSEPH     PEASE. 
Horn   1799.         Died  1872. 

Second  son  of  Edward  IVase.         M.P.  for  South  Durliam  in  four  Parliaments. 

From  the  original  portrait   by  Sir  George    Hayter,  painted  in   1832,  in  the  possession 

of   Sir   Alfred    Edward    Pease,  Bart.  :   being  a   study  for  his  historical  picture  of  the 

lirst   Reform  Parliament  of  1X^2, 


1833  DEATH  OF  HIS  WIFE.  67 

was  in  great  lowliness,  humility  and  fear  "  and  that 
from  her  diaries  penned  "  during  forty  years,"  there 
are  many  entries  that  indicate  the  "  wailings  of  a 
mind  "  not  satisfied  yet.  It  is  deeply  instructive  and 
encouraging  to  see 

how  as  life  flowed  down,  her  prospect  and  faith  brightened  and 
strengthened,  that  she  would  through  tender  mercy  become  an 
inhabitant  of  the  heavenly  city,  and  so  fully  does  my  heart 
center  in  this  belief,  that  when  I  meditate  at  intervals  by  the 
spot  where  all  that  was  dear  to  me  lies  reposed,  it  seems  as 
if  no  earthly  inheritance  claimed  my  wish  than  that  space  which 
is  by  her  side  ;  nor  any  in  heaven,  but  where  her  pure  Spirit 
mingles  with  the  just.  .  .  May  I  so  walk,  as  through 
mercy  to  inherit  such  a  blessing. 

In  this  spirit  Edward  Pease  lived  out  his  long  years 
alone.  What  is  given  here,  so  briefly,  will  sufficiently 
explain  much  in  his  after  life. 

There  are  a  vast  number  of  the  old  man's  letters 
to  his  grandchildren  ;  in  almost  all  there  are  to  be 
found  some  touches  of  old  world  colouring  amidst  the 
Quaker  drab.  One  or  two  illustrations  will  be  enough. 
Writing  to  his  little  grandson  Joseph  at  John  Ford's 
School  at  York,  near  Walmgate  Bar,  he  tells  him  that 
he  thinks  about  him 

as  alternately  engaged  in  lively,  refreshing  play,  in  plying  at 
other  times  over  lessons,  sometimes  rather  tedious,  but  to  be 
found  in  after  life  affording  thee  abundant  compensation  in 
utility  or  pleasure, — to  acquire  learning  is  sometimes  felt  to 
be  like  drudgery,  yet  this  tedious  part  is  very  short  in  duration, 
compared  with  the  pleasure  which  springs  from  possession — 
thus  the  hope  of  reward  will,  I  trust,  always  sweeten  labour. 
.  .  .  I  should  be  glad  to  know  how  thou  art,  and  every 
thing  about  thee,  what  are  thy  pursuits,  if  botany,  entomology, 
the  lathe,  or  that  play  and  progress  in  thy  studies  are  thy  chief 
resorts.  Hast  thou  done  any  thing  at  photogenic  drawing. 
I  enclose  thee  a  few  specimens,  and  if  thou  art  unacquainted 


68  EDWARD  PEASE. 

with  preparing  the  paper  and  process,  I  could  give  thee  some 
preliminary  instructions  which  I  had  from  an  ingenious  youth, 
Chas.  Waring  at  Neath.  .  .  Having  mentioned  Neath, 
I  may  tell  thee,  I  made  an  excursion  into  South  Wales,  a 
part  I  had  not  previously  visited ;  my  attraction  was  an  old 
and  valued  friend,  Anna  Price,  upwards  of  80.  .  .  Had  my 
chief  anxiety  been  to  see  the  country  which  very  near  the  point 
of  my  tarriance  is  said  in  beauty  much  to  be  a  counter  part  of 
Switzerland,  I  should  have  been  disappointed.  I  saw  very 
little  beyond  the  locality  I  was  in,  except  going  to  Swansea ;  it  is 
a  seaport  of  considerable  consequence  from  its  export  of  coal 
and  iron,  in  the  latter  article  it  may  equal  any  other  part  of  the 
world,  and  in  copper  I  suppose  far  exceeds  all  others.  All  the 
copper  ore  raised  in  Cornwall,  where  there  is  no  coal,  is  brought 
to  this  place  to  melt,  where  coal  is  abundant ;  of  late  a  great 
deal  of  ore  has  been  brought  from  Cuba,  where  we  may  fear 
it  is  obtained  at  the  frightful  cost  of  human  misery,  from  the 
slaves  imported  into  that  extensive  Island.  .  .  From  the 
pernicious  smoke  arising  from  melting  copper  ore,  there  are 
hundreds  of  acres  of  ground  on  which  not  one  blade  of  grass 
or  anything  green  or  moss  of  any  kind  is  to  be  seen — washed, 
beaten  and  guttered  by  the  rain,  it  has  something  which,  to  a 
stranger,  has  a  feeling  of  frightful  aridness  about  it.  I  was  not 
prepared  to  see  South  Wales  exactly  as  I  found  it ;  my  appre 
hension  was  that  from  the  riches  I  should  have  seen  the  mark 
of  opulence  and  improvement,  but  I  suppose  the  wealth  ob 
tained  is  comparatively  recent,  and  that  its  income  is  more 
expended  in  extensions  to  obtain  still  more,  than  in  the  im 
provement  of  land  or  in  draining  and  building  cottages  ;  these 
and  their  towns  are  of  an  inconceivably  poorer  description, 
covered  with  almost  universal  thatch,  than  I  anticipated  ;  of 
the  roughest  stone  work,  nearly  all  white-washed.  It  may 
seem  to  require  100  years  to  bring  that  part  of  Wales  up  to 
England.  The  character  of  the  country,  in  its  abounding 
in  very  fine  ruined  castles,  proves  they  have  had  themselves 
at  some  time  to  defend  and  keep  separate,  so  that  English 
influence  and  customs  have  made  slow  inroad  about  Neath, 
Swansea,  etc.  ;  those  who  speak  our  language  are  but  few  ; 
female  costume  is  much  different  in  the  middle  classes  ;  a 


1836  LETTERS  TO  GRANDCHILDREN.  69 

black  beaver  bonnet  or  a  high  crowned  black  beaver  man's  hat 
adorned  the  head ;  a  large  scarlet  worsted  shawl, — reaching 
from  the  shoulders  almost  to  the  feet, — but  these  last  invalu 
able  appendages  in  the  lower  classes  have  only  the  best  and 
kindest  covering  such  as  Nature  grants,  and,  is  it  not  sur 
prising,  never  need  either  new  sole  or  upper  leather,  being 
good  skin.  I  doubt  not  but  thou  wouldst  hear  of  the  Chartist 
riots,  there  had  been  in  Newport.  I  saw  the  windows  of  the 
Inn  much  broken,  and  several  of  the  soldiers  standing  in  the 
bow  from  whence  they  fired  (the  riot  was  on  2d  day  I  went 
through  on  4th)  ;  on  my  return,  they  said  there  were  25 
dead,  some  of  them  found  in  the  woods,  (how  lamentable 
to  die  there  alone  in  such  a  cause  !) ;  from  the  arrival  of  so 
many  military  there  appeared  no  fear  of  further  mischief. 
They  are  building  a  very  large  -iron  Steamboat  and  a  gentle 
man  with  whom  I  travelled  in  the  Coach,  an  East  India  Cap 
tain,  I  think,  known  to  thy  father,  says  he  thinks  in  a  few  years 
all  the  merchant  Ships  will  be  made  of  Iron ;  there  is  so  much 
room  for  stowage,  they  take  so  light  a  draft  of  water  and 
possess  so  many  advantages  ;  if  so,  how  things  change  about, 
when  ship's  carpenters  have  to  turn  blacksmiths. 

Here  is  a  picture  of  Dover  in  the  olden  time  from 
another  letter  to  the  same  grandson,  written  in  June, 
1836  :- 

I  hope  thou  endeavours  to  be  and  art  a  good  boy.  It 
would  be  a  great  pleasure  to  us  to  have  thee  here  ;  there  are 
so  many  things  to  please  and  amuse  thee  ;  the  sea  is  within 
a  few  yards  of  our  house,  its  fine  waves  break  against  steepish 
banks  of  round  flints,  and  rolls  them  together  in  such  a  hurry 
and  with  such  a  clatter  as  to  interrupt  the  sleep  and  quiet 
of  some  persons  ;  pleasure  boats  with  their  waving  flags  lay 
constantly,  when  not  sailing,  almost  under  our  drawing-room 
windows  ;  the  harbour  and  piers,  where  the  steamboats  and 
ships  lie  is  about  half  a  mile  from  us.  The  coming  of  boats  and 
their  going  to  France,  especially  coming,  attract  a  great  deal 
of  attention,  and  it  is  amusing  to  see  that  so  soon  as 
they  come  to  the  side  of  the  pier,  such  a  number  of  persons 
jump  on  board  with  lighted  lanterns  and  pop  down  the  hatch- 


70  EDWARD  PEASE.  1836 

ways  to  the  engine  ;  into  the  Cabin  and  every  place  to  look 
for  smuggled  goods  ;  and  to  see  the  passengers  looking  anxi 
ously  after  their  luggage,  all  of  which  is  carried  to  the  custom 
house,  and  every  package  and  trunk  opened,  and  if  the  keys 
are  not  found  or  as  is  often  the  case  the  keys  are  lost  or  mis 
laid,  the  Locks  are  broken.  .  .  While  we  have  been  here 
many  of  the  nobility  have  been  coming  and  going  from  and 
to  France,  and  if  of  royal  families,  then  21  Cannon  are 
fired  when  they  arrive  in  the  town,  and  the  same  number 
when  they  leave  it  ;  upwards  of  100  cannon  have  been  fired 
since  we  came,  and  the  fort  being  just  above  our  house,  we 
find  it  shakes  with  such  loud  reports,  the  windows  shake  very 
much.  It  is  curious  to  see  the  smoke  and  flash  of  the  firing 
so  long  before  you  hear  the  crack.  The  good  people  of  Dover 
were  roused  from  their  slumbers,  I  should  think,  by  the  dis 
charge  of  21  pieces  of  cannon  about  four  o'clock  this  morning 
to  announce  the  arrival  of  the  Duke  of  Brunswick,  and  the 
same  salute  this  forenoon  when  he  sailed. 

The  very  fine  Castle  here  would  please  thee  much,  it  stands 
on  what  might  be  called  a  little  mountain  of  chalk ;  and  worked 
down  into  this  chalk  are  places  for  troops,  having  windows 
to  the  sea,  and  very  large  magazines  where  they  have  vast 
quantities  of  gunpowder  and  arms  ;  the  castle  is  a  very  old 
building,  some  parts  erected  by  the  Saxons,  some  by  the 
Romans,  and  added  to  by  former  Kings  of  England. 

There  is  one  long  and  large  Brass  cannon,  24  feet  long, 
called  Queen  Elizabeth's  Pocket  Pistol;  it  has  a  deal  of  raised 
work  upon  it,  and  must  have  been  thought  a  valuable  present 
made  to  that  Queen,  by  the  Dutch,  for  helping  them  to  drive 
the  Spaniards  out  of  their  country  ;  there  is  a  Dutch  inscription 
on  it  purporting  its  power- 
Sponge  me  well  and  clean 
And  I  will  carry  a  ball  to  Calais  Green, 

but  this  is  a  fable  as  it  would  not  carry  a  ball  above  seven 
miles,  and  it  is  twenty-two  to  Calais  ;  the  houses  in  that 
town  may  be  seen  from  the  castle  with  a  telescope. 

It  is  not  the  information  in  these  letters  which  is 
interesting,  so  much  as  the  illustrations  they  afford 


1834-7  AN  ADDRESS  TO  THE  QUEEN.  71 

of  the  Quakerly  caution  of  expression  and  description  ; 
they  also  exhibit  at  times  the  quality,  so  cultivated 
in  Edward  Pease's  day,  of  a  sensitiveness  as  regards 
personal  responsibility  ;  take  for  example  the  follow 
ing  :— 

7  mo.,  17,  1834. — I  send  thee  in  this  letter  an  account  of 
a  balloon  which  is  to  go  up  next  3rd  day  ;  ...  It  is  to 
ascend  from  my  small  field  next  to  my  garden,  so  that  you 
could  have  seen  it  very  nicely  and  the  gentleman  who  goes 
up  with  it.  I  did  not  much  like  to  let  him  have  my  field  for 
the  purpose,  and  told  him  I  must  have  time  to  consider  of  it, 
before  I  could  give  leave,  as  he  might  fall  down  and  break  his 
neck  fand  then  I  should  be  ready  to  consider  some  of  the 
blame  would  rest  on  me  ;  he  said  he  had  been  up  114  times 
and  did  not  fear ;  I  wished  him  to  look  for  another  place 
and  would  give  him  half  a  sovereign  to  have  nothing  to 
do  with  it.  As  he  could  pitch  on  no  other  spot,  and  finding 
it  would  be  a  great  disappointment  to  him  and  the  towns 
people,  I  reluctantly  gave  leave,  telling  him  I  would  not  take 
any  pay  for  the  use  of  the  field  and  should  he  be  killed  by 
falling  from  a  very  great  height  as  a  gentleman  at  Newcastle 
once  did,  I  would  be  clear  of  it ;  the  gentleman  I  have  just 
named  was  to  hold  down  the  balloon  until  it  was  ready  to 
be  let  off,  and  being  busy  cracking  nuts  he  tied  the  string 
round  his  arm,  so  when  it  went  up  he  was  entangled  in  the 
string,  and  when  so  high  as  to  be  almost  out  of  sight  his  arm 
got  loose  and  he  dropped  down  feet  foremost  into  a  Garden, 
but  fell  with  so  much  force  he  sunk  up  to  the  knees  in  the  earth 
and  was  quite  dead.* 

In  1837,  when  the  queen  came  to  the  throne  the 
Society  of  Friends  presented  an  address  ;  the  following 
extract  from  a  letter  gives  a  description  of  the  pro 
ceedings  : — 

*  An  account  of  this  accident  at  Lunardi's  ascent  at  Newcastle  in 
1 786  is  given  in  Sykes'  Local  Records.  The  gentleman  who  was  helping 
Lunardi,  and  who  was  killed,  was  Mr.  Ralph  Heron,  "  The  border  on 
which  he  fell  had  been  lately  digged,  into  which  he  sank  above  his 
knees,  from  which  shock  his  bowels  were  totally  displaced." 


72  EDWARD  PEASE.  1837 

We  have  had  a  very  interesting  occasion  last  6th  day,  as 
the  paper  would  show,  in  presenting  our  address  to  the  young 
Queen.  After  waiting  in  an  adjoining  room  about  half  an 
hour,  folding  doors  opened  and  we  observed  at  a  longish 
distance  before  us,  our  youthful  Queen  seated  under  a  canopy, 
with  the  Ministers  standing  about  her  in  remarkable  stillness 
and  stateliness.  We  advanced  slowly  through  files  of  guards, 
she  fixing  her  large  eyes  upon  us  till  we  drew  up  close  to  the 
footsteps  of  her  throne.  I  thought  she  looked  a  little  flushed 
at  first,  but  her  countenance  is  pale,  very  fair,  rather  inclined 
to  plumpness,  agreeable  looking,  but  not  of  refined  features. 
She  sat  in  remarkable  stillness,  no  one  about  her  seemed  to 
move  a  lip  or  a  limb.  At  one  part  of  our  address,  I  believe, 
when  we  alluded  to  the  pardoning  of  the  guilty  criminal, 
I  observed  she  drew  in  her  lips  as  if  the  subject  closely  in 
terested  her  feelings  ;  and  towards  the  close,  when  we  used 
solemn  and  supplicating  terms,  her  bosom  heaved  as  with 
uniting  aspirations.  On  the  whole  she  conducted  herself  in 
the  most  striking  manner  ;  she  sat  in  a  high-backed  chair, 
which  made  her  appear  diminutive,  and  her  person  being  much 
covered  with  insignia,  she  appeared  like  one  of  fourteen  or 
fifteen  years  old ;  her  hair  was  very  neatly  done  up.  When 
she  had  finished  her  reply,  Lord  John  Russell  took  it  from 
her,  and  she  bowed  to  us ;  she  then  gave  it  to  W.  Allen,  who 
read  our  address  (they  said)  beautifully.  At  a  signal  for 
retirement  we  commenced  the  process  of  walking  backwards, 
to  the  amusement  of  many  I  dare  say,  and  to  the  no  small 
amusement  of  my  toes  from  the  uncouth  and  uncourtly 
breeding  of  a  stout  Friend  before  me.  It  was  altogether  a 
most  interesting  spectacle,  and  there  was,  as  I  thought,  much 
solemnity  apparent  in  the  occasion. 

The  following  extract  from  a  letter  of  Joseph  Pease, 
gives  an  account  of  the  coronation  of  the  queen  : 

What  have  I  seen  ?  An  enormous  well-behaved,  contented 
and  apparently  happy  People  crowning  their  youthful  Sover 
eign,  and  a  splendid  sight  it  was — strange  mixture  and  sad 
confusion  of  the  reality  and  semblance  of  sacred  things — 
much  of  popery,  much  of  ancient  traditions  and  feudal  days  and 


1837-40  THE  QUEEN'S  CORONATION.  73 

much  of  Jewish  remnants  grafted  on  a  Christian  stock ;  much 
to  arouse  the  feelings,  to  excite  the  admiration,  and  disgust 
the  judgment.  .  .  An  air  of  congratulation  and  satisfac 
tion  is  almost  universal ;  weather  and  circumstances  having 
favoured  the  whole.  The  Abbey  was  certainly  a  fine  spectacle, 
the  company  gorgeous  and  beautiful,  the  Queen  interesting, 
but  somewhat  benumbed  (I  should  think),  and  the  experienced 
declared  it  to  have  been  a  whole  without  the  possibility  of 
rivalry  under  the  sun  ;  no  metropolis  so  grand  and  no  people 
so  rich,  no  nobility  so  capable,  nor  any  empire  more  the  sub 
ject  of  admiration,  or  more  worthy  the  consideration  of  the 
statesman  or  the  philosopher,  all  these  as  it  were  confided  to 
the  guardian  care  of  a  child,  just  emerged  from  simplest 
tutelage  and  tutor  age.  These  points  remembered,  there  was 
much  to  induce  trains  of  sentimental  thought.  I  see  the 
Morning  Chronicle  singles  me  out  for  notice  and  echoes  the 
appreciated  comments  made  to  me  on  my  appearance,  simple 
as  it  was.  I  had  a  capital  seat  in  the  Abbey ;  came  home  and 
wrote  my  letters.  .  .  .  then  assisted  my  brother  Barclay 
in  shewing  the  lions  to  his  children,  and  Jane  G.  Backhouse ; 
such  prodigious  masses  of  people  (and  the  extraordinary  dis 
play  of  fireworks  exhibited  to  us)  my  mind  had  never 
conceived.  A  discharge  of  800  Rockets  simultaneously,  throw 
ing  each  as  many  balls  of  crimson,  yellow,  green  and  blue 
lights  throughout  the  sky,  showed  the  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  gazing  spectators.  The  illuminations  were  of  the  most 
costly  character,  and  as  I  pursued  my  way  home  from  my 
friend  Vivian's  garden,  where  I  had  secured  for  my  compan 
ions  kind  accommodation,  near  one  o'clock,  the  streets  were 
still  crammed ;  we  were  once  locked  for  about  one  hour  and 
a  half,  the  police  in  vain  endeavouring  to  obtain  any  regular 
passage.  This  finished  my  coronation — others  are  pursuing 
balls,  music,  fairs  and  reviews — I  have  had  enough. 

1840.  It  will  help  to  give  some  idea  of  the  con 
servative  way  in  which  he  viewed  the  business  of  the 
Quaker  parliament  when  he  went  up  each  May  to 
London  to  attend  its  sittings,  to  quote  from  a  letter  to 
his  son  Joseph  on  the  2nd  of  June,  1840. 


74  EDWARD  PEASE.  1840 

I  know  not  what  tidings  thy  dear  two  may  have  given 
thee  of  the  winding  up  of  our  Yearly  Meeting.  I  think  it 
concluded  to  a  considerable  degree  of  comfort,  which  would 
have  been  yet  more  encreased  had  we  parted  under  the  solemn 
supplication  of  thy  dear  brother  (John),  and  had  not  George 
Jones'  communication  so  far  dissipated  our  gathered  feeling 
as  to  make  way  for  a  teetotal  harangue,  ...  In  my  ap 
prehension  friends  have  seldom  parted  under  a  more  united 
feeling  of  brotherly  love,  more  settled  in  our  principles  or  in 
more  attachment  to  our  common  faith — though  in  various 
parts  of  the  country,  I  can  suppose,  the  attraction  to  other 
places  of  worship  is  weaning  many.  It  seems  to  me  as  if  this 
must  be  the  consequence  of  so  much  association  with  others 
for  benevolent  purposes  (and  how  can  we  forbid  the  exercise 
of  such  praiseworthy  exertion),  yet  the  temptation  to  young 
friends  to  abate  some  part  of  their  profession  is  obvious,  and 
opening  the  way  to  friendships  and  missionary  meetings — 
it  seems  as  if  we  were  in  a  position  fearfully  liable  to  be  caught, 
so  that  "  come  out  from  among  them,  touch  not,"  a  language 
much  the  reverse  of  my  nature,  as  attaching  to  good  works 
to  be  performed  in  unison  with  others,  has  yet  a  great  deal 
in  it  as  making  for  our  preservation  as  a  distinct  religious 
body. 

As  regards  the  Meetings  of  Ministers  and  Elders 
he  mentions  some  documents  presented  in  person  by 
William  Allen  and  Elizabeth  Fry,  and  proceeds  : 

that  balmy  covering  with  which  dear  Elizabeth  Fry  gilded 
hopes  of  good  done  and  to  be  done,  you  know  can  spread  a 
very  soft  and  softening  mantle  over  what  she  has  to  represent. 
She  laid  on  the  table  a  short,  but  pleasing,  I  may  say  flattering 
letter,  wrote  by  the  now  King  of  Prussia,  and  to  which  the 
Queen  had  also  signed  her  name,  and  which  thou  hast  probably 
seen.  I  am  not  sure  that  any  such  private  letter  comes 
before  such  a  body  in  our  legitimate  capacity.  However  it  was 
pleasing  POSSIBLY  not  to  all  for  I  observed  S.  Grubb  with 
draw  ere  W.  A.  and  E.  F.'s  communications  were  made,  so 
that  I  have  grounds  to  doubt  the  fulness  of  her  unity,  and 
probably  some  more,  with  these  mixed  proceedings  or  the 


1849  THE  ANTI-SLAVERY  CAUSE.  75 

parties  concerned  in  them — but  in  our  Meeting  of  Elders  we 
had  a  proceeding  which  to  my  view  was  as  short  of  legitimacy 
as  the  foregoing.  Maria  (Saml.)  Fox  asked  leave  to  come 
into  our  (i.e.,  the  Elders')  meeting — the  only  objection  made 
was  a  lateral  one  on  my  part,  desiring  that  this  visit  of  a  minister 
might  never  be  drawn  into  a  precedent,  as  our  meeting  should 
be  held  for  ourselves  and  free  from  any  risk  of  bias  from 
ministers.  She  came  in  and  a  long  communication  we  had, 
encouraging  us  to  a  faithful  discharge  of  duty,  all  very  good 
but  all  such  as  might  have  been  expressed  in  our  joint  meeting 
— it  seems  to  me  that  these  meetings  should  be  unapproach 
able  by  any  but  our  own  cloth — for  had  female  visits  been 
admitted  four  or  five  years  ago  we  might  have  received  a  bias 
which  would,  as  it  did  in  the  Yearly  Meeting,  have  endangered 
our  being  carried  off  our  feet  by  WOMEN  !  Admirable  and 
lovely  in  all  respects  in  THEIR  RIGHT  POSITION.  Feeling  and 
hearing  how  much  trial  there  was  in  S.  G.  always  occupying 
the  time  in  meeting,  I  was  bold  enough  to  offer  a  few  obser 
vations  on  that  excellent  advice  not  to  exceed  the  measure 
of  their  gifts.  I  was  well  followed  by  S.  Corder  and  Samuel 
Gurney,  but  whether  friends  were  cowardly  in  touching  such 
a  character  or  deemed  us  radical,  I  know  not,  but  we  were 
not  followed  up  ;  this  I  deplore  because  I  am  certain  we  are 
suffering  under  a  domination  which  if  continued  will  come  out 
in  open  revolt. 

The  foregoing  will  be  enough  to  illustrate  the 
pedantry  of  Quaker  style  and  the  questions  that  occu 
pied  the  thoughts  and  time  of  these  Friends  and  Elders. 

In  1849  there  is  evidence  of  the  continued  interest 
Edward  Pease  took  in  the  Anti-Slavery  cause,  and  he 
follows  the  proceedings  of  the  Quakers'  deputations 
that  are  received  at  various  continental  courts.  He 
calls  the  king  of  Hanover  "  a  gruff  article,"  and  quotes 
his  remark  to  the  friends  who  addressed  him  that 
"  he  did  not  want  anybody,  tell  him  what  was  his 
duty," — and  mentions  that  they  had  not  seen  the 
King  of  Denmark. 


76  EDWARD  PEASE.  1851 

He  was  so  taken  up  with  congratulations,  rejoicings, 
triumphal  arches,  and  for  the  return  of  his  armies  from 
Schleswig  after  such  splendid  victories,  respecting  which 
August  [Mundhenck],  as  a  Prussian  speaks  with  most  marked 
contempt. 

In  a  truly  patriarchal  fashion  he  watches  over  the 
manners  and  habits  of  all  his  descendants,  noticing 
the  slightest  breaches  of  the  proprieties  by  even  his 
grandchildren.  To  Jane  Gurney  Pease  : 

I  learn  you  [i.e.,  Jane  and  her  sisters]  are  going  to  the 
Mechanic's  Soiree  this  evening — I  could  desire  and  hope  not 
to  be  tea-makers.  As  regards  the  whole  thing,  there  is  an 
unfeminine  vulgarity  in  it  from  which  you  might  do  well  to 
stand  aloof.  There  may  be  something  antiquated  you  will 
suppose  in  this  sentiment  ;  but  it  seems  to  me  the  once  very 
worthy  ancients  at  the  Grove  [i.e.,  Joseph  and  Jane  Gurney, 
their  Grandparents]  would  have  united  in  it. 

To  illustrate  the  straitness  of  old  Friends  such  a 
letter  as  the  following  is  worth  preserving  : — 

TO  JANE  G.  PEASE. 

Marske, 

8  Mo.  5,  1851. 
MY  BELOVED  GRANDDAUR.  JANE 

I  have  heard  with  much  concern  that  the  Duke  of  North 
umberland's  band  is  to  be  at  the  flower  show  in  thy  cousin 
Edmund  Backhouse's  grounds.  I  deeply  regret  that  a 
circumstance  which  would  have  given  much  pain  to  a  char 
acter  so  exalted — who  recently  possessed  these  grounds, 
and  whose  dimise  is  affectingly  fresh — should  have  been  per 
mitted. 

Whither  the  attendance  of  friends  may  be  considered  the 
attendance  of  a  place  of  amusement  (to  make  it  such,  is  the  sole 
purpose  for  which  the  band  is  procured)  I  leave  ;  but  to  me 
it  feels  such  a  trespass  on,  and  violation  of  the  discipline,  and 
principles  of  friends  ;  that  I  can  do  nothing  but  discourage 
their  presence  :  my  conclusions,  my  Beloved  Jane,  may  be 


1845-50  HIS  STRAITNESS.  77 

considered  strait ;  and  so  will  the  conclusions  of  every 
one  be  deemed,  who  faithfully  aims  for  that  only  safe  road 
which  has  a  "strait  gate"  and  leads  into  a  narrow  way: 
so  it  greatly  crosses  my  natural  dispositions  to  say,  that 
neither  refreshments  nor  welcome  will  be  provided  at  my 
dwelling  (for  those  who  come  only  and  purposely  to  be  at  the 
show)  ;  I  say  this  with  much  keenness  affecting.  Farewell  my 
beloved  Jane — my  dear  love  is  unchangeably  with  you  all. 
Thy  truly  affectionate  Grandfather 

EDWARD  PEASE. 

In  another  which  he  wrote  to  Jane  in  1845,  after  a 
visit  he  had  paid  to  Elizabeth  Fry  at  Plashet,  he 
speaks  of  her  as 

very  sweet  and  conversible,  perhaps  her  mind  not  quite  so 
strong  as  once,  yet  that  prizable  past — tenderness  of  mind, 
true  piety  and  affection  remain  and  what  an  adorning  they 
are  to  old  age  and  under  infirmity.  I  dare  say  it  has  occurred 
to  thee  my  Lov'd  Jane  that  the  foundation  for  these  attractive 
dispositions  are  best  and  surest  laid  in  early  life,  and  ah  !  so 
blest  is  the  possessor  of  them,  and  such  a  blessing  to  those 
around,  that  every  intent  and  purpose  of  the  heart  might  well 
and  ought  to  be  directed  to  their  attainment. 

He  then  points  out  the  way  to  love,  power  and  trust, 
and  warns  her  against  what  he  has  seen  at  Ham  House  : 

The  introduction  and  association  of  those  not  members  of 
our  Society  to  the  dwelling — the  seed  bed  of  an  alienation 
productive  of  bitter  fruit.  So  dear  Jane  think,  and  wisely 
think,  that  the  less  association  with  those  without  our  Pale, 
is  best,  safest,  most  protective  of  principles  and  freeing  from 
temptation  or  to  depart  from  it.  Well,  I  had  no  idea  of 
giving  expression  to  thoughts  in  rather  too  hasty  a  way 
perhaps,  and  which  would  have  been  better  if  more  pondered. 

In  yet  another  letter  to  Jane  in  1850  he  writes  : 

I  do  not  know  if  I  have  told  thee  of  my  changed  taste  in 
reading — 'tis  possible  something  of  the  same  would  yield  thee 


78  EDWARD  PEASE.  1850 

a  sweet  and  peaceful  mental  rest  after  books  quite  properly 
amusing  and  instructive — 

and  suggests  that  she  should  acquaint  herself  "  with 
the  faith,  patience,  hopes  and  sufferings  of  our  wor 
thies,"  and  alludes  to  her  cousin  John,  the  eldest  son 
in  the  Earlham  Gurney  family, 

who  when  reduced  in  health  would  only  have  Friends'  writings 
read  to  him,  and  when  thy  cousin  Joseph  John  [his  brother] 
would  take  some  of  their  works  less  of  narrative  and  rather, 
as  he  thought,  dry,  in  order  to  get  him  to  sleep,  his  wakeful 
interests  in  their  pious  sentiments  kept  away  the  intended 
soothing  effect.  So  dear  Jane  all  this  is  to  thyself  in  that 
paternal  warmth  which  wishes  to  promote  thy  happiness. 

But  when  he  is  90  he  goes  on  advising  Jane,  and 
writes  to  her  at  her  late  Uncle  Barclay's  house  at  Ley  ton 

believing  you  beloved  Sisters  are  good  friends,  I  wish  you 
would  carry  it  as  handsomely  and  becomingly  neat  as  your 
cousin  [Jane  Barclay]  it  might  a  little  tend  to  stem  the  torrent 
of  unshamefaced  tumble  of  head  bonnets  now  usual.  I  know 
you  think  to  begin  at  the  heart  is  best,  so  it  is,  but  begin,  at  the 
head  or  anywhere,  to  do  well  is  good. 

A  great  deal  of  Edward  Pease's  time  was  spent 
each  year,  even  when  he  was  over  eighty  years  old, 
with  his  married  daughters  at  Saffron  Walden  and 
Bristol.  The  following  extract  from  a  letter  to  his 
granddaughter  Emma  Pease  gives  us  a  glimpse  of  how 
he  spends  his  time  when  at  Bristol  in  1850. 

Now  my  dear  Emma  it  would  be  no  surprise  to  me  while 
your  five  needles  were  whisking  through  wedding  prepara 
tions  if  there  were  started  an  expression  "  I  wonder  how 
grandpapa  spends  his  time."  So  to  keep  him  in  mind  I  will  tell 
you  a  little  about  him.  He  goes  to  meeting  more  frequently 
than  when  at  home,  he  writes  many  letters  to  those  he  loves 
there  .  .  .  [here  follows  a  list  of  calls  paid  and  visitors]. 
.  .  .  He  reads  a  little  variety,  his  present  scale  is  the 


1850  AT  THE  GROVE,  NORWICH.  ?g 

archives  and  ancient  records  of  this  monthly  meeting  which 
have  considerable  variety  in  them ;  he  finds  turbulent  couples 
determined  to  be  wed  came  into  meeting  with  a  few  of  their 
friends,  read  a  Certificate  and  wed  themselves  ;  they  and 
their  attendants,  or  at  least  the  latter,  send  in  an  apology  and 
paper  of  regret,  they  seem  to  be  forgiven  but  what  becomes 
of  the  bride  and  bridegroom  (whose  previous  unsatisfactory 
conduct  was  the  reason  why  friends  would  not  wed  them)  is 
not  noticed,  but  there  are  great  contrasts  to  these  unsavoury 
and  turbulent  doings  : — there  is  a  strong  relief  in  the  pro 
ceedings  of  George  Fox  and  Mary  Fell  who  with  a  solemnity 
of  expression  that  can  hardly  be  exceeded  declare  their 
intention  and  belief  in  the  sacred  council  that  directs  therein 
.  .  .  but  order  was  not  always  kept,  we  may  well  con 
ceive,  when  it  was  needful  to  appoint  three  friends  to  sit  in  the 
Gallery  to  prevent  the  boys  from  spitting  on  the  heads  of 
friends  below  ! 

The  same  year  he  goes  to  stay  at  the  Grove,  Nor 
wich,  with  the  widow  of  Joseph  John  Gurney.  Here 
he  says  he  still  feels  the 

overshadowing  of  the  spirit  that  was  so  sweet  under  a 
countenance  so  beaming,  so  bright,  so  playful,  yet  so  pious 
as  thy  beloved  Grandfather's  and  thy  dear  Grandmother's,* 
the  latter  never  neglecting  one  iota  of  attentions  that 
could  contribute  to  the  comfort  of  those  who  inmated  with 
her.  Changed  as  all  are  there,  yet  there  is  much  of  delight  in 
thinking  the  mansion  is  so  worthily  occupied  ;  such  kindness 
and  goodness,  and  generosity  so  great  (Oh,  how  I  wish  it  was 
counterparted  at  cold  Keswick),  that  it  seemed  to  me  that 
many  ample  folds  of  beloved  Joseph  John  Gurney's  did  mantle 
her  f  actions  and  gently  lie  upon  her  quiet  subjected  spirit ;  that 
there  was  a  peacefulness  in  our  coming  sweetly  zephyr' d  by 
the  very  atmosphere  of  old  Earlham.  J 

*  The  Grove  was  Joseph  and  Jane  Gurney's  home.  On  the  death 
of  the  latter  in  1841,  who  had  resided  there  during  her  widowhood, 
The  Grove  became  the  home  of  Joseph  John  Gurney's  widow  till  she 
went  to  live  in  America. 

f  i.e.  Eliza  P.  Gurney,  his  widow. 


8o  EDWARD  PEASE.  1837 

When  we  come  to  Edward  Pease's  Diaries  we  shall 
find  enough  to  show  that  he  was  not  over  partial  to 
such  causes  as  the  total  abstinence  one.  There  are 
passages  in  his  letters  which  betray  his  attitude  to  this 
and  some  other  philanthropic  movements. 

When  I  came  to  destroy  old  vouchers  I  reprieved 
some  of  the  old  Hotel  bills  which  indicated  what  we 
should  now  consider  a  shocking  consumption  of  liquor. 
I  reproduce  one  of  many  such ;  old  parliamentary 
election  accounts  tell  the  same  tale,  and  some  of 
Edward  Pease's  descendants  who  remember  his  son 
John,  a  leading  minister  in  the  Society,  may  be 
a  little  surprised  to  know  that  I  have  a  voucher  of 
his  for  £2  paid  for  "  Punch  "  at  the  Black  Lion  at 
Stockton.  My  father  told  me  that  beer  was  in  his 
childhood  looked  upon  as  a  necessary  article  in  the 
nursery,  and  that  he  and  his  brothers  and  sisters 
were  all  brought  up  to  have  their  beer  at  meals. 

In  1837,  Edward  Pease,  writing  to  his  grand 
daughter  Emma  Gurney  Pease,  tries  to  be  patient  with 
Mrs.  John  Pease,  who  is  going  to  attempt  the  wild 
experiment  of  using  milk  instead  of  beer  for  herself 
and  little  girl.  He  brings  the  question  to  the  test  of 
the  Scriptures  and  says 

thou  knowest  the  law  concerning  Nazerites  is  fulfilled  ;  but 
what  dost  thou  think  of  dear  Sophia  recommencing  it  ?  in 
the  hope  that  she  and  her  sweet  infant  may  find  that  milk 
in  lieu  of  Malt  Liquor  may  supply  all  maternal  and  infantile 
wants  ;  in  this  anciently  holy  regimen  she  intends  to  perse 
vere,  until  effects  which  demand  a  change  shall  impel  her  to 
adopt  a  different  course. 

He  trusts  that  there  will  be  "  a  keeping  on  the 
watch  for  that  which  shall  render  the  adoption  of 
another  course  essential."  His 

hope  is  that  in  her  case  it  may  be  with  her,  as  it  is  with  thou 
sands,  that  health  and  strength  may  be  theirs  ;  and  maintained 


^ 


M.  YARKER, 

*  i: : 
8*: 


D 

D 


KINGS  nu.fi)  L\N, 

EICHMOND* 


Breakfast .  . 

pinner   ...»  „'  t 

Supper   ....    ...... 

Fruit    Cards  and  Biscuits 
Ale  and    Beer  ..!..., 
Madeira  and  Claret     .  .  .  , 
Sherry  and    Lisbon    .  .  . 
Punch  and  Cyder    .  .  .  .  , 

Wine  and  Negus  ..... 

Pipes,  Tobacco,  and  Paper 
Brandy,  Hum,  and  Gia  .  . 
Servants  Eating,  &c.  .  .  . 

Coffee,  and  Tea 

Washing  and  Postage  .  . 
Horses  Riy  and 
Post  Chaise 


B 

~d  3 


// 


JH 


R 


EDWAUJ)     I'KASK'S    "  KXI'KXSKS    AT    RICMMOX1),    7   in.    K>.    iSoS," 
Fucsiinilc  «>f  an  old  H«>tt-I  Hill, 


1840  POLITICS.  81 

on  the  supply  of  nature's  provision.  Tis  an  experiment 
I  hope  not  unwise,  not  unsafe,  but  with  some  constitutions 
its  sinking  effects  would  soon  become  evident. 

Another  new  idea,  namely,  that  Friends  could  take 
a  part  in  politics  did  not  startle  him  so  much,  however 
zealous  he  was  that  his  own  family  should  abstain  from 
any  active  share  in  them.  Even  after  his  son  was  in 
Parliament  he  seldom  alludes  to  politics  or  Parliament 
ary  proceedings,  and  when  he  does  it  is  generally  in 
relation  to  Railways,  the  Slave  Trade  or  Ecclesiastical 
questions.  If  Toryism  or  Conservatism  could  have 
been  brought  into  harmony  with  civil  and  religious 
liberty  and  been  favourable  to  humane  and  philan 
thropic  objects,  he  would,  I  think,  have  been  Conser 
vative.  But  above  all  things  he  was  anti-clerical,  and 
for  toleration  and  peace. 

In  1840,*  writing  to  his  son  Joseph,  he  says : 

I  did  not  expect  to  have  had  to  salute  thee  again  in  London, 
but  I  can  believe  thou  wouldst  not  have  gone  there  again 
couldst  thou  have  helped  it.  On  the  Hartlepool  business 
thou  mayst  I  hope  be  of  use.  As  regards  what  may  be  those 
agitating  questions  which  are  to  keep  thee  going  backwards 
and  forwards  for  them,  it  is  not  easy  to  determine.  Legis 
lation  which  would  progress  if  the  Ministry  had  but  one  vote 
on  the  majority,  and  had  the  Lords  on  their  side,  may  be  said 
to  be  much  at  a  stand.  And  were  the  Tories  in,  with  the  upper 
house  to  support  them,  it  would  go  forward,  and  I  hope  with 
good  measures  too,  because  they  would  not  have  power  enough 
in  the  Commons  to  get  unpopular  measures  through.  So  on 
the  whole  my  anxiety  about  which  is  in,  seems  different  to 
what  it  was  a  few  years  ago.  Thou  perhaps  discovers  much  of 
fallacy  in  this  reasoning. 

Though  in  theory  Quakers  are  not  Sabbatarians, 
Edward  Pease  was  one  to  a  great  extent.     This  comes 

*  A  year  after,  Lord  Melbourne's  Government  was  defeated  by  one 
vote  and  a  Dissolution  followed.  The  Tories  came  in  with  a  majority 
and  Sir  Robert  Peel  formed  his  administration. 


82  EDWARD  PEASE. 

out  in  such  passages  as  the  following,  alluding  to  Mrs. 
Jonathan  Backhouse,  a  Minister  : 

There  is  hardly  one  I  love  so  much — none  of  her  Station 
and  Sex — or  in  whom  I  could  forgive  so  much,  but  I  almost 
fear  she  will  be  narrowing  that  disposition  in  some  slight  degree, 
if  we  cannot  have  her  in  a  little  more  quietude.  Whether 
driving  40  miles  on  the  Sabbath  day  (except  under  a  sense 
of  dire  duty)  does  not  exceed  the  allowed  measure,  I  do  not 
determine,  but  that  which  is  of  good  report  ought  always  to 
be  in  our  keeping.  Besides,  there  has  always  been  something 
of  an  impression,  that  it  was  a  wise  part  of  Jewish  Theocracy, 
if  one  could  make,  like  them,  a  preparation  for  the  Sabbath 
(I  suppose  some  undisturbed  solemnity)  and  as  regards  dear 
Hannah,  both  for  the  sake  of  her  calling  and  these  anticipated 
engagements,  I  should  have  been  glad  if  she  had  had  more 
retirement. 

Although  in  the  diaries  and  elsewhere  Edward 
Pease  expresses  his  doubts  as  to  how  far  Friends  should 
enter  into  association  with  others  in  missionary  and 
benevolent  enterprises,  he  himself  warmly  espoused 
the  causes  of  the  Anti-Slavery  and  the  Bible  Societies. 
In  1839,  he  eulogises  Thomas  Fowell  Buxton  and  his 
book  "  The  Remedy/'  and  writes  : 

When  one  casts  an  eye  back  over  the  ancient  Williams, 
Henrys,  Edwards  and  four  Georges,  what  iron  sleep  humanity 
seems  to  have  had ;  it  now  seems  wakened  up  in  every  direc 
tion,  and  flat,  dull  and  slow  as  may  the  steps  of  pure  religion 
seem  to  be,  I  cannot  but  think  that  all  good  and  humane  efforts 
are  integral  parts  of  that  song  that  breathed  Peace  on  Earth, 
and  are  harbingers  of  that  most  exalted  time  when  the  earth 
enjoying  its  Sabbaths,  the  morning  Stars  shall  sing  for  joy. 

The  metaphors  and  style  may  be  at  fault  here,  but 
the  passage  is  a  fair  representation  of  his  general  atti 
tude  towards  the  philanthropic  movements  of  his  time. 

Edward  Pease  was  never  a  very  wealthy  man  until  his 
old  age,  and  became  one  in  spite  of  pains  not  to  be  one, 


THE  FIRST  PUBLIC  RAILWAY.  83 

and  he  disliked  to  see  anyone  absorbed  in  business  and 
money  making.  He  took  a  part  in  most  local  public 
efforts  which  had  for  their  object  the  relief  of  the  poor 
and  the  promotion  of  public  order,  virtue  and  comfort. 
He  made  a  point  of  attending  punctually  all  meetings 
for  worship,  on  Sundays,  but  was  as  diligent  in  at 
tending  week-day  meetings  and  those  concerned  with 
the  work  and  discipline  of  the  Society  of  Friends. 

He  had,  at  fifty,  already  withdrawn  a  good  deal 
from  taking  an  active  part  in  the  family  business.  It  was 
at  this  age  he  began  to  study  the  question  of  a  public 
railway.  His  idea  was  an  iron  rail-road  with  waggons 
drawn  by  horses  to  carry  the  coal  from  West  Durham 
to  the  sea.  From  this  idea  and  his  putting  it  into 
practice  sprung  the  public  railway  systems  of  the  world. 
The  first  public  railway  was  projected  by  Edward 
Pease.  In  the  life  of  George  Stephenson,  by  Smiles, 
Edward  Pease  is  described  as 

a  thoughtful  and  sagacious  man,  ready  in  resources, 
possessed  of  indomitable  energy  and  perseverance  ;  he  was 
eminently  qualified  to  undertake  what  appeared  to  many  the 
desperate  enterprise  of  obtaining  an  Act  of  Parliament  to 
construct  a  railway. 

In  the  old  days,  Stockton  was  the  port  of  the  Tees, 
but  the  winding  of  the  river  from  its  mouth  up  to  that 
town,  made  the  time  occupied  in  sailing  to  it,  from  the 
river's  mouth,  sometimes  as  long  as  that  occupied 
from  London  to  the  Tees.*  In  1805  the  Tees  Navigation 
Company  was  formed,  and  with  Parliamentary  powers  in 
1810  it  completed  the  New  Cut,  shortening  the  distance 
more  than  two  miles  by  a  straight  channel  of  220  yards. 
A  local  historian  states  :  "  Mr.  Edward  Pease  had  at  this 
early  day  (1810)  become  satisfied  that  a  tramway  or 
railway  was  at  all  events  equal  to  a  canal  "  for  im- 

*  A  brief  chronology  of  the  growth  of  the  Port  of  Middlesbrough 
from  these  beginnings  will  be  found  in  Appendix  VII. 


84  EDWARD  PEASE.  1815-18 

proving  the  communication  between  Stockton  and 
Darlington,  and  the  Committee  of  the  Company 
were  directed  by  a  meeting  at  Darlington  *  to  con 
sider  the  question  and  chose  Mr.  Rennie  to  survey 
and  report.  This  report  was  printed  in  1815.  The 
district  became  divided  into  two  parties  in  1818,  the 
Stockton  party  for  a  canal  projected  by  Mr.  C. 
Tennant  and  Mr.  Leather  (via  Portrack  and  Brad 
bury  to  Evenwood-bridge),  and  the  Darlington  party 
for  a  tram  or  rail-road.  But  the  Darlingtonians 
were  a  divided  camp,  Mr.  Backhouse  and  Mr. 
Meynell  being  in  favour  of  making  the  Tees 
navigable  above  Yarm,  and  then  a  tramway  on 
via  Darlington  to  the  coal  field,  and  Edward  Pease 
insisting  on  a  rail-road  all  the  way  to  save  trans 
shipments  and  shifting  loads  en  route.  A  meeting 
and  vote  was  taken.  Mr.  Backhouse  was  beaten,  but  he 
most  loyally  accepted  the  decision  and  became  one  of  the 
chief  promoters  of  the  great  experiment,  f 

I  have  an  imperfect  copy  of  what  I  take  to  be  the 
first  Prospectus  of  any  railway,  but  it  is  undated. 
One  paragraph  states  : 

In  the  year  1768,  two  of  the  most  eminent  engineers  of 
that  day,  Messrs.  Brindley  and  Whitworth,  surveyed  this  line 
of  country,  and  fully  corroborated,  as  appears  by  their  report, 
those  expectations  of  general  advantage.  .  .  .  Their  plans 
then  failed  from  a  want  of  adequate  subscription ;  yet  so 
demonstrably  beneficial  is  such  a  project,  that  it  may  be  said 
never  to  have  been  lost  sight  of.  In  1812  or  1813  it  was 
renewed :  Mr.  John  Rennie  .  .  .  was  employed  to  make 
a  new  survey,  etc. 

*  The  meeting  took  place  on  January  I7th,  1812,  George  Allan  in 
the  chair,  and  the  printed  report  of  it  is  in  my  possession  with  the  list 
of  attenders. 

|  Mr.  Backhouse's  share  in  the  promotion  has  never  been  sufficiently 
recognised.  Edward  Pease  often  dwells  on  the  enormous  services  he 
rendered. 


I8IQ-2I  THE  FIRST  PUBLIC  RAILWAY.  85 

This  old  document  holds  out  the  following  among 
many  other  glowing  prospects  : 

that  a  sum  of  not  less  than  £30,000  per  annum  will  be  saved 
to  the  Public  on  the  carriage  of  coal  alone. 

One  object  is  to  supply  a  population  of  not  less  than  60,000 
inhabitants  with  coal  at  a  much  cheaper  rate  than  by  its  present 
mode  of  conveyance.  The  quantity  annually  drawn  at  the 
mines  to  which  this  road  will  extend  is  140,000  tons,  which, 
on  the  average,  is  now  carried  twenty  miles  in  carts  on  the 
turnpike  road  along  which  one  horse  drags  scarcely  one  ton 
at  the  rate  of  8d.  or  gd.  per  ton  per  mile  ;  whilst  on  a  level 
line  of  Railway  one  horse  will  take  ten  tons  at  the  [remain 
der  of  paragraph  torn  out]. 

There  is  an  old  notice  with  this  paper  dated  Darling 
ton,  24th  February,  1819,  to  the  creditors  and  mort 
gagees 

of  the  Tolls  arising  from  the  Turnpike  road  leading  from 
Darlington  to  West  Auckland  to  apply  to  Mr.  Raisbeck  at 
Stockton  or  Mr.  Mewburn  at  Darlington  (the  solicitors  to  the 
Paid  proposed  Railway)  who  are  authorised  to  purchased  their 
Securities  at  the  Price  originally  given  for  the  same. 

It  is  curious  in  examining  these  old  papers  to  find, 
among  many  astonishing  things,  such  a  paragraph  (in 
a  Report  of  Proceedings  of  the  London  Northern  Rail 
way,  1825)  as  the  following  in  the  evidence  of  William 
Chapman,  Esq.,  an  engineer  : 

The  only  remaining  point  of  consideration  is  that  of  con 
veying  passengers  with  speed  and  convenience  from  place  to 
place  which  may  be  done  in  long  carriages  resting  on  eight 
wheels  and  containing  the  means  of  providing  the  passengers 
with  breakfast,  dinner,  etc.,  whilst  the  carriages  are  moving. 

One  day  in  1821  Edward  Pease  was  writing  in  his 
room  when  a  servant  announced  that  two  strange  men 
wished  to  speak  to  him.  He  was  busy,  and  he  sent  a 
message  that  he  was  too  much  occupied  to  see  them. 


86  EDWARD  PEASE.  1822 

The  door  had  no  sooner  closed  than  he  lay  down  his 
pen  and  wondered  whether  he  had  done  right ;  then 
he  rose  from  his  chair  and  went  downstairs.  He  asked 
where  the  men  were  and  was  told  that  they  were  in  the 
kitchen.  Going  into  the  kitchen  he  found  them  and 
they  gave  their  names  as  Nicholas  Wood,  viewer  at 
Killingworth  Colliery,  and  George  Stephenson,  an  engine- 
wright  at  the  pits.  Mr.  Pease  sat  down  on  the  edge 
of  the  kitchen  table  to  learn  their  errand.  Stephenson 
handed  him  a  letter  from  Mr.  Lambert,  the  manager 
of  Killingworth,  recommending  Stephenson  to  the 
notice  of  Mr.  Pease  as  a  man  who  understood  laying 
down  railways.  In  Edward  Pease's  own  description 
of  this  interview  he  says,  "  There  was  such  an  honest 
sensible  look  about  George  Stephenson,  and  he  seemed 
so  modest  and  unpretending,  and  he  spoke  in  the  strong 
Northumberland  dialect." 

During  the  conversation  Edward  Pease  agreed  that 
Stephenson  was  right  when  he  recommended,  for  the 
purpose  Edward  Pease  had  in  view,  a  railroad  instead 
of  a  tram  road.  Edward  Pease  had  long  satisfied 
himself  as  to  the  soundness  of  his  idea  "that  a  horse 
on  an  iron  road  would  draw  ten  tons  for  one  ton  on 
a  commonroad,"  and  to  use  his  own  words,  "  I  felt 
sure  that  before  long  the  railway  would  become  the 
King's  Highway." 

Then  Stephenson  told  him  that  the  locomotive 
which  he  had  made  to  run  on  the  pit  railway  was  worth 
fifty  horses.  "  Come  over  to  Killingworth  and  see 
what  my  Blutcher  can  do — seeing  is  believing,  Sir," 
said  Stephenson. 

In  the  summer  of  1822  Edward  Pease  and  his  cousin 
Thomas  Richardson  set  out  to  visit  Killingworth. 
He  found  George  Stephenson's  cottage,  and  Mrs.  Ste 
phenson  told  him  her  husband  was  at  the  pit,  but  that 
she  would  send  for  him.  Stephenson  soon  after  turned  up 


1823      STEPHENSON  AND  THE  LOCOMOTIVE.          87 

in  pitman's  garb,  and  brought  up  his  locomotive, 
made  the  two  gentlemen  get  up  and  put  it  through  its 
paces.*  From  that  day  Edward  Pease's  faith  in  the 
locomotive  never  wavered,  and  he  had  inserted  in  the 
1823  Amended  Stockton  and  Darlington  Act  a  clause 
empowering  them  to  work  the  railway  by  means  of 
locomotive  engines  and  to  employ  them  to  haul 
passengers  as  well  as  merchandise.  He  entered  (1824) 
into  partnership  with  Stephenson  to  make  locomotives 
in  Newcastle. 

When  the  Act  referred  to  was  passed  George 
Stephenson  was  confirmed  in  his  appointment  as  the 
Company's  engineer  at  a  salary  of  £300  a  year. 

In  top  boots  and  breeches  George  Stephenson  and 
John  Dixon  would  work  all  day  long  from  dawn  to  dark 
surveying  the  newline,  and  Stephenson  would  constantly 
drop  in  at  Edward  Pease's  when  the  day's  work  was  done 
to  discuss  with  him  the  railway  and  various  matters. 

Mr.  Pease's  daughters  were  usually  present  and  on  one 
occasion,  finding  the  young  ladies  learning  the  art  of  embroidery 
he  volunteered  to  instruct  them.  "  I  know  all  about  it,"  said 
he,  "  you  will  wonder  how  I  learnt  it.  I  will  tell  you.  When 
I  was  a  brakesman  at  Killingworth  I  learnt  the  art  of  em 
broidery  while  working  the  pitman's  button  holes  by  the 
engine  fire  at  nights."  Mr.  Pease's  family  were  greatly  pleased 
with  his  conversation,  which  was  always  amusing  and  in 
structive,  f 

It  was  in  discussion  with  Edward  Pease  that  the 
questions  were  decided  (which  now  seem  so  simple) 
of  the  composition  of  rails,  when  of  iron,  whether 
they  should  be  wrought  or  cast,  and  of  what  weight, 

*  A  picture  of  this  incident  painted  by  A.  Blankley  was  exhibited 
in  the  Royal  Academy  and  at  Haywood  and  Leggatt's  gallery,  Cornhill. 
I  do  not  know  where  it  is  now.  It  was  reproduced  in  the  Illustrated 
London  News  with  the  title  "  George  Stephenson  at  Darlington  in 
1823,"  and  described  as  "  in  the  Flatov  Collection." 

f  Smiles'  Life  of  George  Stephenson. 


88  EDWARD  PEASE.  1825 

and  what  the  gauge  of  the  railway  should  be.  Originally 
a  wooden  tramway  had  been  Edward  Pease's  idea  and 
then  iron.  Malleable  rails  in  those  days  of  com 
paratively  cheap  labour  cost  £12  per  ton,  and  cast 
iron  ones  £5  los.  These  first  rails  were  "  fish-bellied," 
weighing  only  twenty-eight  pounds  to  the  yard,  2j 
inches  broad  at  the  top,  2  inches  in  depth  at  the  ends 
and  3j  inches  in  the  middle  of  the  belly  part,  with 
a  flange  f  inch  thick.  The  gauge  was  taken  from 
the  road  waggons,  4  feet  8|  inches. 

The  first  railway  between  Stockton  and  Darlington 
was  opened  on  the  27th  September,  1825.  George 
Stephenson  drove  the  engine  which  trailed  after  it  six 
waggons  loaded  with  coals  and  flour,  a  coach  with  the 
directors  and  their  friends,  and  then  twenty-one  waggons 
filled  with  seats  for  passengers,  and  then  six  waggons 
loaded  with  coal,  thirty-eight  vehicles  in  all ;  and  "  such 
was  its  velocity  that  in  some  parts  the  speed  was 
frequently  twelve  miles  an  hour."  The  engine  arrived 
in  Darlington,  8f  miles  from  Brusselton,  where  it  started 
from,  in  sixty-five  minutes  and  starting  off  again  did 
twelve  miles  on  to  Stockton  in  three  hours  and  seven 
teen  minutes  including  stoppages. 

Smiles,  the  biographer  of  Stephenson,  quotes  an 
opinion  of  Edward  Pease  in  1818.  "  He  was  a  man 
who  could  see  a  hundred  years  ahead."  There  is  a  very 
pleasing  account  of  him  by  Smiles  when  he  was  eighty- 
eight  years  old.  He  describes  him  as  hale,  hearty, 
full  of  interest  in  the  present,  with  a  bright  eye  and 
the  mental  vigour  of  a  man  in  his  prime  and  with 
an  elasticity  in  his  step  which  younger  men  might 
have  envied. 

Edward  Pease  had  a  warm  place  in  the  hearts  of 
the  Darlington  people.  His  ability,  activity,  energy, 
simple  hospitality  and  warmheartedness  made  him  a 
general  favourite,  and  he  was  familiarly  called  "  Neddie 


11 


- 
O    " 


1817  THE  QUAKERS'  LINE.  89 

Pease."  Old  men,  when  I  was  young,  constantly 
quoted  his  shrewd  remarks  and  observations.  Although 
all  the  world  called  him  schemer  and  fool,  he  joked 
over  its  shortsightedness  and  stuck  to  his  project.  A 
pretty  picture  is  given  by  Smiles  of  "  Neddie  Pease," 
looking  on  an  autumn  landscape  from  his  drawing-room 
windows  with  full  grown  trees  in  the  nearer  distance 
and  exclaiming,  "  Look  at  those  fine  old  trees,  every  one 
of  them  was  planted  by  my  own  hand.  When  I  was  a 
boy  I  was  fond  of  planting  and  my  father  indulged  me 
in  this  pastime.  I  went  with  my  spade  planting  trees 
everywhere  as  far  as  you  can  see ;  they  grew  while  I 
slept,  and  now  see  what  a  goodly  array  they  make. 
Aye,  but  railways  are  a  far  more  extraordinary  growth 
even  than  these.  They  have  grown  up  since  I  was  a  man. 
When  I  started  the  Stockton  and  Darlington  Railway 
some  five  and  thirty  years  since,  I  was  already  fifty 
years  old." 

I  refer  the  reader  to  the  same  pages  for  an  account 
of  the  birth  of  the  idea  in  Edward  Pease's  mind  in  1817, 
and  to  the  vast  labours  and  difficulties  of  the  task 
of  bringing  it  into  practice,  the  opposition  of  land 
owners  and  even  coal  owners,  of  the  backing  he  had  from 
the  Richardsons,  Backhouses  and  others,  that  made 
the  railway  eventually  to  be  called  "  The  Quakers' 
Line."  The  fights  in  Parliament  and  the  defeats  and 
final  victory  are  part  of  national  history.  Here  also 
will  be  found  the  story  of  how  Edward  Pease  discovered 
the  genius  of  George  Stephenson,  made  him  engineer 
of  the  first  railway,  and  backed  him  and  his  invention  of 
the  locomotive.  Stephenson  one  day  in  the  midst 
of  the  difficulties  they  encountered  said  to  him,  "  I 
think,  sir,  I  have  some  knowledge  of  craniology  and 
from  what  I  see  of  your  head  I  feel  sure  that  if  you  will 
fairly  buckle  to  this  railway  you  are  the  man  successfully 
to  carry  it  through."  He  replied,  "  I  think  so  too,  and 


90  EDWARD  PEASE.  1809 

may  observe  to  thee  that  if  thou  succeeds  in  making 
this  a  good  railway,  thou  mayest  consider  thy  fortune 
as  good  as  made." 

Edward  Pease  was  by  no  means  the  originator  of 
railways,  however  much  the  father  of  public  ones,  and 
his  advocacy  the  means  of  attracting  attention  to  their 
importance.  He  may,  nevertheless,  be  fairly  considered 
as  the  chief  agent  in  bringing  George  Stephenson's 
invention  into  the  light.  In  Sykes'  "  Local  Records," 
under  the  date  of  May  I5th,  1809,  I  find  the  follow 
ing  :— 

The  inhabitants  of  Alnwick  and  its  vicinity  were  gratified 
by  the  completion  of  an  undertaking  hitherto  unattempted 
in  that  quarter,  viz.,  the  delivering  of  coals  at  Alnwick  from 
Shilbottle  colliery,  by  waggons  conveyed  along  a  metal  rail 
road. 

And  on  May  ijth,  1809  : 

The  opening  of  the  waggon-way  from  Bewicke  main  to 
the  river  Tyne  took  place,  on  which  occasion  every  road  leading 
to  it  was  crowded  with  passengers  at  an  early  hour  and  before 
eleven  o'clock  about  10,000  people  were  assembled.  About 
this  time,  four  waggons  of  small  coals  were  brought  up  the  first 
plane  by  the  steam-engine  to  the  great  admiration  of  the 
spectators  ;  but  owing  to  some  little  difficulties  which  often 
occur  in  new  machinery,  the  four  waggons  of  best  coals 
intended  for  the  Tyne  did  not  start  till  a  much  later  hour. 
As  soon  as  the  waggons  reached  the  summit  of  the  second 
and  highest  plane,  up  which  they  went  with  surprising  velocity 
and  regularity,  the  British  flag  was  hoisted  at  Ayton  cottage, 
and  announced  by  a  discharge  of  six  pieces  of  cannon,  which 
were  answered  by  an  equal  number  from  the  Ann  and  Isabella, 
his  majesty's  armed  ship  on  the  Tyne,  and  from  Deptford 
house,  the  residence  of  Mr.  Cooke.  .  .  In  the  evening,  to 
prove  the  excellence  of  the  level  railway,  six  men,  without 
horses,  took  with  greatest  ease  four  laden  waggons  with  each 
ten  men  on  the  top  from  Ayton  Cottage  to  the  Tyne  ;  and  the 


i82i  GEORGE  STEPHENSON.  91 

first  coals  being  put  on  board  the  Ann  and  Isabella  the  same 
was  announced  by  discharges  of  Artillery  as  before. 

At  Killingworth  and  other  collieries  railroads  had 
long  been  in  use  when  Edward  Pease  began  his  agitation 
in  favour  of  them  for  the  public  service. 

At  one  of  the  discussions  between  George  Stephenson 
and  Edward  Pease,  the  former  pointed  out  that  the 
shortest  line  to  the  Collieries  would  be  by  Aycliffe  and 
not  by  Darlington.  Edward  Pease  pulled  him  up,  and 
said  with  marked  emphasis  and  determination,  "  George, 
thou  must  think  of  Darlington  :  thou  must  remember 
it  was  Darlington  sent  for  thee." 

I  have  thought  that  the  following  from  among  a 
large  number  of  letters  I  possess,  connected  with  the 
making  of  the  first  railway  and  with  the  first  locomo 
tive  works  in  the  world,  may  be  of  interest, .  bearing  as 
they  do  on  the  allusions  in  this  sketch  to  Edward  Pease's 
part  in  epoch-making. 

GEORGE  STEPHENSON  TO  EDWARD  PEASE. 

Killingworth  Colliery, 

April  28th,  1821. 
EDWD.  PEASE,  ESQ. 

SIR,— 

I  have  been  favored  with  your  Letter  of  the  20  Inst.  and 
am  glad  to  learn  that  the  Bill  has  passed  for  the  Darlington 
Rail  Way. 

I  am  much  obliged  by  the  favourable  sentiments  you  ex 
press  towards  me,  and  shall  be  happy  if  I  can  be  of  service  in 
carrying  into  execution  your  Plans. 

From  the  nature  of  my  engagements  here  and  in  the 
neighbourhood,  I  could  not  devote  the  whole  of  my  time  to 
your  Rail  Way,  but  I  am  willing  to  undertake  to  survey  and 
mark  out  the  best  line  of  way  within  the  limits  prescribed  by 
the  Act  of  Parliament  and  also  to  assist  the  Committee  with 


92  EDWARD  PEASE.  1825 

plans  and  estimates  and  in  letting  to  the  different  contractors 
such  work  as  they  might  judge  it  adviseable  to  do  by  Contract, 
and  also  to  superintend  the  execution  of  the  work.  And  I  am 
induced  to  recommend  the  whole  being  done  by  Contract 
under  the  Superintendence  of  competent  persons  appointed 
by  the  Committee. 

Were  I  to  contract  for  the  whole  line  of  road  it  would  be 
necessary  for  me  to  do  so  at  an  advanced  price  upon  the  Sub 
Contractors,  and  it  would  also  be  necessary  for  the  Committee 
to  have  some  person  to  superintend  my  undertaking.  This 
would  be  attended  with  an  extra  expense  and  the  Committee 
would  derive  no  advantage  to  compensate  for  it. 

If  you  wish  it  I  will  wait  upon  you  at  Darlington  at  an 
early  opportunity  when  I  can  enter  into  more  particulars  as 
to  remuneration,  etc.  etc. — 

I  remain  yours 

respectfully, 

GEORGE  STEPHINSON.* 

The  next  letter  I  shall  give  is  from  another  man  who 
played  an  important  part  in  bringing  Stephenson's 
ideas  into  notice,  viz.  Nicholas  Wood,  the  manager 
of  Killingworth  Colliery. 

NICHOLAS   WOOD   TO   EDWARD   PEASE. 

Killingworth, 

ist  February,  1825. 
SIR,— 

I  must  apologise  for  not  answering  your  letter  respecting 
the  Locomotive  Engines  before  this,  but  what  with  my  own 
business  and  in  making  preparations  for  the  experiments 
for  the  other  Rail  Roads,  I  have  been  so  much  occupied,  that  I 
really  have  not  had  an  opportunity  of  doing  so.  I  had  also 
another  reason  for  delaying  the  answer.  I  expected  from  some 
alterations  I  was  making  of  the  Locomotive  Engines,  that  it 
would  be  attended  with  considerable  improvement,  and  their 
performance  increased  accordingly  ;  and  I  waited  until  I  had 

*  Note  he  signs  his  name  Stephinson. 


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8 


1825          LETTER  FROM  NICHOLAS  WOOD.  93 

the  result  of  these  to  assist  me  in  determining  your  Questions. 
I  am  happy  to  say  these  alterations  have  answered  my  most 
sanguine  expectations,  and  has  given  a  new  turn  to  the  action 
of  those  machines,  rather  different  from  what  I  anticipated, 
and  certainly  the  very  reverse  of  what  those  opposed  to  them 
were  inclined  to  admit. 

I  must,  however,  beg  a  little  more  time  to  arrange  the  mate 
rials  derived  from  those  experiments  and  as  they  are  to  form 
the  groundwork  of  my  estimate  of  their  performance,  I  should 
wish  to  give  it  the  most  attentive  consideration.  You  may, 
however,  depend  upon  me  not  delaying  it  beyond  the  earliest 
period  of  my  coming  to  a  final  determination. 

I  have  now  to  thank  you  for  the  Friendly  advice  contained 
in  your  last  Letter — you  are  aware  of  my  friendship  for  Mr. 
Geo.  Stephinson,  my  conduct  in  many  instances  had  shewn  it — 
and  I  am  happy  my  Friendship  has  been  bestowed  upon  so 
worthy  a  person.  When  he  was  associated  with  me  at  this 
Colliery,  we  made  a  great  many  experiments  on  the  subject 
of  Rail  Roads,  and  since  his  employment  elsewhere  I  have 
made  a  great  many  more — the  benefit  of  which  he  has  always 
had  from  time  to  time  as  they  were  made. 

Those  experiments  however  have  not  been  attended  with 
out  expense,  and  I  may  add  also  with  considerable  mental 
exertion,  though,  thank  God,  my  circumstances  are  such  as  to 
make  me  at  present  to  live  with  the  greatest  comfort ;  yet 
that  depends  upon  my  constant  and  continual  exertion  both 
of  body  and  mind,  and  I  think  it  a  duty,  therefore,  incumbent 
upon  myself  if  those  experiments  are  useful  and  such  as  will 
afford  any  emolument,  to  embrace  the  opportunity  at  present 
held  out  to  render  that  comfort  more  lasting  and  independent. 

Of  course,  if  the  publishing  them  to  the  world  should  injure 
Mr.  Stephenson,  I  should,  notwithstanding,  withhold  them, 
but  after  mature  consideration  I  do  not  think  they  will — 
they  are  only  conveying  information  which  every  one  in  a 
short  time  will  have  an  opportunity  of  informing  himself,  but 
which  at  the  present  moment  I  may  say  only  dwells  with 
myself. 

When  I  state  to  you  that,  at  this  time,  I  am  several  pounds 
the  worse  for  all  my  experience  in  Rail  Roads,  I  trust  you  will 


94  EDWARD  PEASE.  1824 

not  blame  me  for  endeavouring  to  reimburse  myself  now,  when 
I  think  an  opportunity  offers,  if  it  only  be  done  judiciously 
and  without  injuring  my  friends, 

I  am,  Sir, 

Your  most  ob.  St. 

N  :    WOOD. 


The  next  document  I  shall  give  is  the  Partnership 
Agreement,  made  at  the  end  of  1824,  between  Edward 
Pease  and  the  Stephensons,  for  the  purpose  of  con 
structing  locomotives. 

The  original  memorandum  signed  by  the  partners  in 
the  engine  factory,  is  somewhere  among  my  father's 
(the  late  Sir  J.  W.  Pease)  papers,  but  I  give  the  original 
document  drawn  up  at  the  meeting  which  formed  the 
"  Basis  of  Partnership,"  in  the  Forth  Street  Works, 
as  it  is  endorsed. 

It  is  in  Edward  Pease's  handwriting. 

At  a  meeting  etc.  etc.  12  M.,  13,  1824. 

it.  In  consequence  of  the  numerous  engagements  of  Geo. 
Stephinson,  it  is  concluded  that  he  be  relieved  from  that 
ostensible  share  of  the  management  of  the  said  concern  during 
the  ensuing  year,  which  he  has  hitherto  had,  yet  that  the  en 
gine  factory  shall  continue  to  receive  any  effort  of  his  in 
genuity  and  that  of  his  Son  for  which  they  can  spare  time,  and 
it  is  now  agreed  that  the  management  be  taken  by  Mich. 
Longridge  at  the  rate  of  £200  per  annum,  for  the  year  ensuing. 

2d.  On  considering  the  circumstances  of  the  existing 
Patent  for  Locomotive  Engines,  and  the  short  duration,  say 
three  years,  ere  that  Patent  expires,  that  it  is  expedient  if  it 
be  practicable  by  a  Petition  to  Parliament  as  Geo.  Stephinson 
has  stated  to  this  meeting,  that  he  does  not  at  present  see  any 
additions  can  be  made  to  his  former  invention  of  such  moment 
as  to  entitle  him  to  sue  for  new  Patent ;  the  care  of  this  sub 
ject  is  committed  to  Edwd.  Pease. 


1824  THE  FIRST  LOCOMOTIVE  WORKS  95 

It  appearing  to  this  meeting  that  we  labour  under 
considerable  disadvantage  in  not  being  able  to  found  our 
own  Cylinders  and  other  cast  metal  articles.  It  is  resolved 
that  an  adjacent  piece  of  ground  about  1,800  yds.  square 
being  Leasehold  for  three  lives,  be  purchased  at  43.  6d.  per 
yard,  to  erect  a  foundry  upon,  and  that  the  care  of  completing 
this  purchase  be  left  to  Michael  Longridge.  It  is  contem 
plated  that  this  extension  of  our  works  may  involve  a  capital 
equal  but  not  exceeding,  the  sum  already  invested  in  our 
Engine  manufactory.  A  small  modern  built  dwelling 
house  attached  to  the  premises  above  named  appearing  to  be 
desirable  to  this  concern,  it  is  agreed  that  the  same  be 
purchased  for  £120,  the  same  is  left  to  care  of  Geo.  Stephinson. 

Proposals  and  agreement  for  opening  an  office  for  Engin 
eering  and  Railway  Surveying  entered  into  and  agreed  this 
30  day,  12  mo.,  1824. 

1.  That  the  Co.  shall  consist  of  Geo.  Stephinson,  Robt. 
Stephinson,  Edw.  Pease  and  Michl.  Longridge  as  follows  : — 

Geo.  Stephinson            . .  . .  2  Shares. 

Rob.   Stephinson           . .  . .  2  Shares. 

Edwd.  Pease  (J  T.  R's.)*  . .  4  Shares. 

M.    Longridge               . .  . .  2  Shares. 

10 

2.  That  Geo.   Stephinson  and    Robt.   Stephinson  shall 
take  charge  of  pointing  out,  surveying,  etc.  all  lines  of  Road, 
and  all  other  works  which  the  Co.  may  undertake  and  shall 
be  provided  with  proper  assistants  at  the  expense  of  the  Co. 

3.  Michl.  Longdridge  shall  take  the  charge  of  the  corres 
pondence  and  all  the  accounts,  etc.,  etc. 

4.  All  expenses  for  Clerks,  Surveyors  and  other  Salaries, 
and  all  other  expenses  shall  be  first  discharged,  after  which 
Geo.  Stephinson  and  Robt.  Stephinson  shall  be  paid  for  their 
joint  use  £1,500  per  annum   as   a  compensation   for  their 

*  T.  R.  Thomas  Richardson,  who  put  up  half  the  money  for 
Edward  Pease  and  had  this  interest  in  the  concern. 


96  EDWARD  PEASE.  1854 

services,  and  then  the  profits  be  divided  according  to  their 
respective  shares,  provided  the  work  done  and  the  money 
received  amount  to  the  sum  above  named. 

5.  All  Apprentice  and  other  fees  and  remuneration  shall 
be  paid  over  for  the  joint  benefit. 

6.  Rob.  Stephinson  is  at  liberty  to  conclude  his  present 
foreign  engagement  before  he  render  any  personal  service  to 
this  company,  yet  the  benefit  to  arise  from  any  other  foreign 
engagement  is  to  go  into  the  common  stock.     If  within  three 
months  after  his  return  to  England,  it  is  the  said  Rob.  Stephin- 
son's  wish  to  terminate  this  agreement,  it  shall  end  upon  his 
giving  three  months  notice. 

7.  The  office  to  be  at  Newcastle. 

8.  That  this  agreement  commence  on  the  ist  January, 
1825,  and  that  the  firm  be  Geo.  Stephinson  and  Son. 


One  more  letter  I  shall  give  and  that  shall  be  from 
the  distinguished  son  of  George  Stephenson. 

ROBERT  STEPHENSON  TO  EDWARD  PEASE. 

Newcastle-on-Tyne. 

6th  October,  1854. 
MY  DEAR  MR.  PEASE, 

I  believe  the  gentleman  who  has  been  engaged  some  time 
in  collecting  facts  connected  with  my  father's  life  is  highly 
respectable  and  from  what  I  can  learn  well  calculated  to  write 
a  popular  memoir.  I  have  promised  him  all  the  assistance  in 
my  power,  and  I  believe  Nicholas  Wood  has  done  likewise. 
No  one  can  give  him  such  interesting  information  regarding 
my  father's  early  Rway  Carreer  as  yourself,  and  I  shall  be 
glad  to  hear  that  you  have  undertaken  to  do  so. 

It  is  my  intention  to  spend  some  time  in  Whitby  in  about 
a  fortnight,  and  if  I  can  find  an  opportunity  on  that  occasion 
to  spend  a  day  or  two  with  you  in  Darlington,  I  shall  have 
great  pleasure  in  doing  so. 


1857  FRANCIS  MEWBURN.  97 

My  health,  I  am  glad  to  say,  is  better  than  it  has  been  for 
some  time  past,  but  I  do  not  feel  that  it  is  permanently 
restored. 

Yours    faithfully, 

ROB.  STEPHENSON. 
EDWARD  PEASE,  Esq. 
Darlington. 

I  give  in  Appendix  IX.,  a  letter  from  a  working- 
man,  a  quaint  account  of  the  first  firing  and  starting  of 
Locomotive  No.  i. 

In  a  memoir  of  Francis  Mewburn,  the  Chief  Bailiff 
of  Darlington  and  first  Railway  Solicitor,  published  in 
1867,  there  is  much  interesting  information  with  regard 
to  the  early  history  of  the  railway  idea.  There  is  also 
an  account  of  the  first  meeting  between  George  Stephen- 
son  and  Edward  Pease.  In  this  we  read 

At  the  behest  of  Pease,  old  George  with  Nicholas  Wood 
barefoot  walked  to  Darlington,  shoeing  themselves  near 
Bulmer's  Stone.  Neither  was  ever  backward  in  admitting 
this,  for  neither  was  ashamed,  for  each  had  the  true  stuff  of 
men. 

In  1857  Mr.  Francis  Mewburn,  who  had  been 
associated  with  the  work  from  its  first  inception, 
presided  at  a  public  meeting  at  the  old  Town  Hall 
with  the  object  of  taking  steps  to  collect  a  sub 
scription  and  to  commemorate  the  great  and  invalu 
able  services  of  his  old  and  firmest  friend  "  Ed 
ward  Pease/'  In  his  speech  on  this  occasion,  Mew 
burn  sketched  the  history  of  the  Railway  idea  from  1768, 
when  the  project  was  discussed  of  a  canal  from  Winston 
through  Darlington  to  Stockton,  down  to  that  day. 
The  scarcity  of  money,  owing  to  the  Napoleonic  wars, 
hung  up  the  plan  of  making  a  canal  till  1812,  and  simi 
lar  causes  delayed  the  tramway  and  canal  scheme  of 


98  EDWARD  PEASE.  1857 

1812  till  after  the  peace.  Mewburn  tells  the  story  of 
how  "  all  the  landed  gentry  in  the  county  opposed  the 
railway  with  the  exception  of  two/'  Mr.  Meynell  and 
Mr.  Benjamin  Flounders.  He  also  states  that  Mr. 
Overton's  (the  Welsh  Engineer)  recommendation  of  a 
railway  for  the  whole  distance  had  the  effect  of  ending 
the  differences  between  the  two  Quaker  camps  led  by 
Backhouse  and  Pease.  He  quotes  Edward  Pease's 
dictum  as  to  a  canal : 

It  will  be  of  no  public  use  ;  we  must  have  a  continuous 
line  of  communication  ;  the  canal  will  not  be  of  so  much  use 
as  the  railway,  for  if  the  railway  be  established  and  succeeds, 
as  it  is  to  convey  not  only  goods  but  passengers,  we  shall  have 
the  whole  of  Yorkshire  and  next  the  whole  of  the  United 
Kingdom  following  with  railways. 

Alluding  to  the  Parliamentary  fights  he  says  : 

It  was  to  the  talent  and  firmness  displayed  by  Mr.  Pease 
throughout  the  whole  of  these  proceedings  that  they  owed 
the  success  of  the  undertaking. 

Among  the  resolutions  unanimously  agreed  to  at 
the  above  mentioned  public  meeting,  were  :— 

That,  deeply  impressed  with  the  immense  advantages  of 
the  exertions  of  Edward  Pease  Esq.,  in  promoting  in  the  year 
1818,  the  first  public  railway  in  the  kingdom  (the  Stockton  and 
Darlington  Railway),  and  in  subsequent  years  prosecuting 
the  scheme  of  railway  enterprise  with  indomitable  perse 
verance,  under  difficulties  almost  inconceivable  at  the  present 
day,  it  is  expedient  to  record  the  facts  by  some  testimonial,  as 
a  proof  of  the  estimation  in  which  he  is  held  in  his  native  town 
of  Darlington,  its  neighbourhood,  and  the  district  generally. 
That  in  consequence  of  such  means  of  locomotion,  sources  of 
wealth  have  been  developed,  the  entire  kingdom  advanced, 
and  the  convenience  of  the  public  wonderfully  increased, 
every  railway  company  in  Great  Britain  be  communicated 


i857  PROPOSED  TESTIMONIAL.  99 

with,  in  order  to  afford  them  the  opportunity  of  co-operating 
in  this  national  tribute  to  a  man  who  still  lives  to  witness, 
with  the  liveliest  satisfaction,  the  result  of  his  early  labours. 
That,  considering  that  Mr.  Pease  has  directly  and  indirectly 
been  the  means  of  developing  to  an  extraordinary  extent  the 
mineral  wealth  of  this  district  in  particular,  and  thereby 
stimulating  every  branch  of  trade  and  commerce  in  the 
country  at  large,  communications  be  made  with  employers 
and  employed,  affording  an  opportunity  to  masters  and 
operatives  of  assisting  in  a  testimonial  commemorating  the 
services  of  that  gentleman. 

That  F.  Mewburn  (Chief  Bailiff),  John  Castell  Hopkins, 
Thomas  Meynell,  Robert  Addison,  John  Harris,  John  Dixon, 
Robert  Thompson,  Isaac  Wilson,  Thomas  MacNay,  Thomas 
Snowden,  H.  W.  Ornsby,  Henry  Hutchinson,  Alfred  Kitching, 
and  George  Mason,  with  power  to  add  to  their  number,  be 
appointed  a  committee  for  carrying  out  the  object  of  this 
meeting,  and  deciding  upon  the  form  which  the  proposed 
testimonial  shall  assume. 

A  bronze  statue,  to  be  erected  in  Darlington,  was 
suggested,  but  it  was  thought  best  to  make  preliminary 
inquiries  not  only  as  to  the  best  form  of  testimonial, 
but  as  to  the  wishes  of  Edward  Pease  and  his  family  in 
the  matter. 

Edward  Pease  wrote  the  following  letter  to  Mewburn 
on  receiving  a  report  of  the  latter's  speech  : 

Darlington, 

3rd  Mo.  6,  1857. 

DEAR  FRA.  MEWBURN, — I  am  much  obliged  by  the  printed 
copy  of  thy  speech.  I  feel  thy  kindness,  but  does  it  not  do  me 
some  injustice  in  rendering  me  more  than  justice  ?  I  never 
aspired  to  be  of  any  consequence  in  the  town  or  elsewhere. 
If  in  any  respect  I  rendered  it  or  thyself,  my  valued  friend, 
any  service,  I  only  did  what  every  well-wisher  to  his  friends 
and  his  country  ought  to  do.  It  seems  to  me  that  Divine 
Providence  has  condescended  largely  to  bless  our  designs  and 


ioo  EDWARD  PEASE.  1857 

efforts  for  the  good  of  the  world,  and  that  we  have  great  cause 
to  thank  Him  for  the  benefits  He  has  enabled  MS  to  confer 
on  humanity. 

Thy  sincere  affectionate  friend, 

EDWARD  PEASE. 

P.S. — Very  old  age  and  imperfect  vision  must  apologise 
for  this  note. 

'  The  Pease  memorial  was  frustrated  by  a  more 
public  letter  on  the  3rd  March  from  the  Patriarch  (who 
died  next  year  in  his  ninety-second  year,  being  buried  on 
the  6th  of  August  with  every  demonstration  of  marked 
respect)  decidedly  forbidding  it  ;  for  it  was  his  '  earnest 
wish  that  no  such  testimonial  be  prepared  or  further 
thought  of.'  The  Committee,  however,  took  counsel 
in  their  disappointment  and  decided  upon  an  Address, 
which  the  Hon.  Sec.  prepared  ;  it  was  most  numerously 
and  influentially  signed ;  indeed  it  extended  to  an 
immense  and  unusual  length  by  consequence,  and  is 
curious  for  its  rare  autography.  The  scroll  itself  was 
considerable,*  and  on  the  date  it  bears  was  presented. 
Mr.  Mewburn  was,  of  course,  selected  to  perform  what 
would  have  proved  one  of  the  most  gratifying  duties 
of  his  life.  The  chosen  party  met  at  the  then  well- 
known  house  in  Northgate,  though  no  one  would  recog 
nise  it  now,  where  they  were  hospitably  welcomed  and 
received.  The  Secretary  read  the  address,  which  ran 
thus  :— t 

To  Edward  Pease,  of  Darlington,  in  the  county  of  Durham, 
Esquire. 

SIR, — The  undersigned,  your  friends  and  neighbours,  in 
most  instances  the  descendants  of  those  whom  you  have 
survived — greet  you  with  unfeigned  respect,  due  alike  to 
your  venerable  age,  and  the  unvarying  consistency  of  your 

*  The  original  Address  is  in  the  possession  of  the  descendants  of 
John  Pease. 

f  From  the  Memoir  of  Francis  Mewburn. 


THE  ADDRESS. 


101 


conduct  during  a  term  far  beyond  the  usual  span  of  man's 
existence. 

We  fondly  hoped  that  this  expression  of  esteem  would  have 
assumed  a  form  more  public  in  its  character,  more  gratifying 
to  ourselves,  and  more  encouraging  to  posterity,  than  this 
merely  individual  address  ;  but  your  modesty — conspicuous 
at  the  close,  as  it  has  been  a  strong  feature  in  the  progress,  of 
your  eventful  life, — forbidding  us  to  perpetuate  your  memory 
by  a  lasting  testimonial,  leaves  us  no  other  alternative. 

In  no  period  of  history  have  so  many  and  so  important 
events  occurred  as  that  in  which  you  have  lived  and  no  one 
more  than  yourself  has  taken  so  active  a  part  in  strenuously 
promoting  whatever  might  develope  the  resources  of  the 
country  in  which  we  have  the  good  fortune  to  dwell. 

In  times  less  enlightened  and  more  prejudiced  than  these, 
with  amazing  foresight,  you  penetrated  the  necessity  of 
unbroken  communication  by  railways,  and  in  1818  predicted 
the  extension  of  that  system  which  now  spreads  a  net-work 
over  the  civilised  world,  binding  nations  together  for  the 
interchange  of  mutual  interests.  Not  content  with  simply 
grasping  the  idea  thus  initiated,  you  brought  an  earnestness 
of  purpose,  under  difficulties  almost  overwhelming,  to  stimu 
late  your  perseverance,  and  the  success  of  your  first  project 
from  the  collieries  in  the  west  by  Darlington  to  Stockton- 
upon-Tees — the  ample  fulfilment  of  your  augury — is  an 
abiding  monument  to  you,  rightly  called  "  THE  FATHER 
OF  RAILWAYS."  Many  of  us,  inhabitants  of  Darlington, 
reflect  with  gratitude  that  to  yourself  and  your  active  col 
leagues,  the  late  Thomas  Meynell  and  Jonathan  Backhouse, 
we  owe  entirely  the  advantage  of  our  town  being  the  focus 
whence  sprang  the  means  of  locomotion  you  originated  ;  and 
can  never  forget  that  to  your  determination  alone  belongs 
the  merit  of  continuing  and  increasing  the  manufactories  of 
this  place,  which  would  otherwise  have  been  abandoned  for  a 
more  profitable  investment  of  capital. 

Directly  and  indirectly — by  your  sterling  ability,  fertile 
resources  of  invention,  inexhaustible  assiduity,  and  the 
highest  moral  courage,  you  have  been  the  means,  under  God — 
who  has  hidden  boundless  riches  in  the  earth,  but  granted 


102  EDWARD  PEASE.  1857 

intellect  to  man  for  their  development — of  opening  fresh 
avenues  to  science,  encouraging  every  branch  of  trade  and 
commerce,  employing  large  bodies  of  operatives,  and  amelior 
ating  the  condition  of  all  classes  of  society.  To  you,  therefore, 
more  than  to  any  hero  of  any  age,  the  thanks  of  a  Nation  are 
due,  and  justly  may  you  be  termed  "  A  PIONEER  OF 
PEACE." 

Few  men  have  been  blessed  with  so  numerous,  and  none 
with  a  more  prosperous  offspring, — active  benevolence — 
personal  sacrifices  in  distant  lands  on  holy  and  peaceful 
missions — distinction  in  the  Senate — a  singular  aptitude  for 
business,  and  an  untiring  zeal  for  the  welfare  of  others  ;  such 
are  the  marked  characteristics  of  your  children,  and  your 
grand-children — to  whom  you  have  always  been  the  constant 
exemplar  and  faithful  friend.  May  your  posterity  to  remotest 
generations  follow  in  your  footsteps,  and  do  likewise. 

Private  life  is  delicate  ground,  but  we  are  not  unmindful 
that  more  than  any  man  you  enjoy  the  implicit  confidence  of 
your  fellows  ;  that  you  have  foiled  the  subtle,  assisted  the 
weak,  guided  the  resolute,  supported  the  wavering,  assuaged 
the  angry,  reconciled  the  estranged  !  And  though  now  in  the 
full  maturity  of  age,  in  health  and  intellect  marvellously,  and 
we  trust  long  to  be  preserved,  you  can  look  back  upon  a  life 
of  unblemished  and  distinguished  reputation,  leaving  us  only 
the  regret  of  being  denied  the  satisfaction  of  recording  our 
sense  of  your  services  by  some  memorial  more  enduring — but 
no  less  sincere — than  this  simple  writing. 

Darlington,  23rd  October,  1857. 

'The  reading  of  this  document  produced  a 
strange  sensation  ;  the  occasion  was  such  as  to  make 
all  present  feel  as  if  at  last,  and  too  tardily,  paying  a 
debt  long  out  of  date.  The  fine  old  man  himself  up 
to  whom  everyone  looked  as  if  upon  an  institution 
visibly  connecting  the  past  and  present — the  extra 
ordinary  peroration  which  none  living  knew  to  be  so  true 
as  his  fellow-worker  about  to  make  the  presentation— 
the  well  advanced  and  respective  ages  of  those  twin 


1857  MEWBURN'S  OPINION  OF  HIM.  103 

worthies — the  welling  recurrence  of  thoughts  of  the 
inexorable  future,  soon  to  be  realised  as  the  debt 
Nature  claims  in  full  from  all — such  reflections  clashing 
with  suddenly  awakened  memories  of  well-nigh 
forgotten  facts  in  both  their  lives ;  the  presence  of  es 
teemed  and  mutual  friends  ;  the  absence  of  many  more  ; 
all  these  influences  rushing  on  the  brain  in  flood,  over 
came  Mr.  Mewburn,  who  utterly  broke  down  with 
irrepressible  emotion,  which  nothing  could  compose. 
He  tried,  and  tried  hard,  but  it  was  all  to  no  purpose. 
Mr.  Meynell  was  enlisted  to  undertake  the  duty,  which 
on  the  spur  of  the  moment  he  did  with  much  ability, 
and  the  best  tone." 

In  another  place  Mr.  Mewburn  gives  Edward  Pease 
this  character,  "  No  one  ever  heard  an  honest  man 
impeach  him,  though  his  ability  gave  him  vast  advan 
tage  over  his  fellows.  He  was  the  type  of  a  safe  money 
maker  all  his  life,  and  left  prodigious  wealth,  but  no 
one  could  whisper  dirty  craft,  illegal  traffic  with  his 
rivals'  name,  or  any  other  counterfeit,  or  threat  of  law 
as  his  means  of  heaping  gold  on  gold,  though  he  wor 
shipped  cent  per  cent,  and  got  it.  His  knowledge  of 
how  men  stood  was  something  wonderful,  yet  he  had 
no  waged  scouts  to  eavesdrop  and  reveal.  His  foes 
respected  him  for  he  fought  with  fair  weapons,  abhor 
ring  foul.  When  Hollingsworth's  bank  was  tottering 
on  the  brink  of  ignominious  ruin,  though  others  were 
blind  and  uninformed,  he  went  straight  to  Mewburn 
[Senr.]  saying  :  '  I  prefer  owing  to  wanting  money  of 
that  house.  Hast  thou  or  Francis  Smales  any  deposit 
there  ?  '  The  hint  was  enough,  and  being  promptly 
acted  upon  in  Durham,  a  whole  fortune  awaiting  the 
completion  of  a  purchase,  was  wrenched  out  of  the 
yawning  gulph.  In  one  of  those  frightful  panics 
in  which  the  wisest  lose  their  heads,  there  was  a  fearful 
run  on  Backhouses  [Bank] .  Pease  and  Mewburn  walked 


104  EDWARD  PEASE.  1857 

leisurely  together,  sauntering — if  either  ever  did — 
into  the  bank.  The  counter  was  full,  eager  customers 
could  not  be  served  fast  enough  from  the  shining 
piled  up  mounds  of  bullion.  Wrinkled  care  squatted 
on  every  countenance  but  theirs,  upon  which,  however, 
sat  no  levity.  After  waiting  some  time  and  engaging 
many  in  conversation,  in  a  tone  loud  enough  to  be 
heard — a  breathless  whisper  from  such  a  quarter  at 
that  time  being  merchandise — Pease  said  to  Plews, 
who  like  all  the  rest  around  him  was  anxious  as  anxious 
could  be — and  well  they'd  need  :  '  Nathan  our  time's 
precious.  Francis  Mewburn  and  I  have  been  waiting 
long  enough  for  our  turn,  but  I  have  brought  thee  a 
deposit  of  £10,000,  and  will  thank  thee  to  give  me 
credit  for  that  amount.' 

"  The  effect  was  instantaneous.  The  fact  passed 
from  mouth  to  mouth  throughout  the  market  that 
Monday,  and  so  on  all  over  the  country  round  about, 
the  withdrawals  ceasing  as  if  by  the  touch  of 
a  magician's  wand.  So  much  for  character  !  The 
influence  this  man  had  was  almost  unbounded,  and 
invariably  healthy  in  its  tone,  for  he  was  fair  and  above 
board  and  infinitely  wiser  than  the  common  herd  of  able 
men.  Mr.  Mewburn  [Senior]  often  said :  *  Edward  Pease 
was  by  far  the  cleverest  man  I  ever  met.  ...  It 
is  said  old  Edward  Pease  worship't  cent,  per  cent., 
and  so  he  did,  getting  it  where  he  could,  yet  no  miser 
he,  for  his  heart  was  sound  as  oak.'* 

"  Pease  was  a  grand,  severe  type  of  man.  His  servants  and 
the  poor  loved  him  not  for  his  doles  but  justice,  while  all  his 
equals  and  his  betters  respected  him.  No  one  ever  settled 
more  disputes  than  he,  or  so  much  discouraged  suits  and 
costly  quarrels,  where  often  the  victor  champs  the  oyster 

*  There  are  other  passages  in  this  Memoir  of  Francis  Mewburn 
which  give  details  of  transactions  to  illustrate  Edward  Pease's  "eye 
for  business,"  which  are  not  so  flattering. 


1857  MEWBURN'S  APPRECIATION.  105 

shell.  He  abhorred  the  Queen's  Bench  and  by  the  weight 
of  his  purse  never  asserted  might  against  right.  .  .  . 
By  his  extraordinary  sagacity  and  tact  he  not  only  selected 
those  by  whom  his  method  should  best  be  worked  out,  but 
bound  them  by  ties  of  personal  regard  as  few  men  could." 

On  the  day  of  his  funeral  there  is  a  note  in  the 
diary  of  Mewburn  : 

Edward  Pease  was  buried  this  morning.  The  shops 
throughout  the  town  were  shut  during  the  day,  and  there  was 
the  largest  concourse  of  people  in  the  funeral  procession  and 
in  the  streets,  ever  witnessed  in  Darlington.  It  was  a  proud 
testimony  to  the  man  who,  and  whose  sons,  had  made  South 
Durham.  The  preaching  at  the  funeral  was  not  to  my  taste. 

Mewburn's  son  proceeds  :  "  No  doubt  it  was  woe 
fully  beneath  the  occasion,"  and  adds  some  entries 
from  his  father's  diary  : 

Mr.  Pease  was  in  his  Q2nd  year.  His  memory  was  drunk 
in  solemn  silence  at  the  dinner  given  at  Appleby,  the  day 
before  the  funeral,  on  the  cutting  of  the  first  sod  of  the  Eden 
Valley  Railway.  No  such  honour  was  ever  given  to  a  Quaker 
since  the  days  of  George  Fox. 

And  another  entry  in  1865,  after  reading  Smiles'  bio 
graphy  of  Stephenson  : — 

Pease  Edwd.,  of  Darlington — I  entirely  concur  with 
Smiles  in  his  character  of  my  most  valued  friend  Edwd.  Pease. 
No  one  out  of  his  family  knew  more  about  him  than  I.  If  I 
live  to  the  age  of  Methusalem  I  shall  reverence  his  name  and 
memory. 

I  have  felt  justified  in  giving  these  long  extracts, 
for  they  give  an  idea  of  how  the  subject  of  this  memoir 
appeared  to  those  who  knew  him  outside  his  own 
family,  and  who  were  in  no  way  associated  with  his 
Quakerism. 


106  EDWARD  PEASE.  1857 

In  the  writings  of  others,  whether  in  biographies, 
contemporary  periodicals  and  obituary  notices,  may 
be  found  a  good  deal  about  Edward  Pease.*  These  and 
the  accounts  I  had  from  those  who  knew  him  make  him 
in  my  imagination  a  very  different  man  to  the  impression 
of  him  to  be  gathered  from  reading  the  religious  journal 
of  the  last  twenty  years  of  his  life.  To  his  family  and 
friends  he  was  a  hearty,  affectionate  and  cheerful  com 
panion,  to  his  acquaintances  a  simple,  warm-hearted 
sympathetic,  shrewd  man,  ready  to  interest  himself  in 
all  that  concerned  them.  In  his  Quaker  peculiarities, 
as  well  as  in  his  sound  sense,  character  and  courage,  he 
stood  out  as  a  marked  individuality. 

To  judge  of  him  entirely  by  the  morbid  self- 
examination  of  his  journals  is  to  get  an  entirely  wrong 
impression.  Still,  I  give  many  extracts  from  them  as  it 
is  well  to  know  the  inner  life  of  men.  Man  hides  his 
soul,  and  it  is  as  a  rule  only  after  death  that  we  get  any 
view  of  the  things  nearest  his  heart,  and  this  knowledge 
has  its  influences  and  its  lessons.  Joseph  Pease,  his 
son,  declared  that  his  cheerfulness  never  deserted  him. 
This  characteristic,  like  many  others,  would  hardly  be 
gathered  from  his  diaries. 

In  1834  he  fell  ill  and  the  following  year  he  was  at 
death's  door  and  the  doctors  considered  his  case 
hopeless.  He  knew  his  state  and  prepared  all  things 
for  his  end  with  calmness,  and  payed  farewell  calls  of 
friendship  and  affection.  I  have  heard  my  father  say, 
when  the  doctors  considered  all  was  nearly  over  (in 
1836),  and  every  effort  had  failed  to  check  the  illness 
(which  included  a  very  severe  and  prolonged  jaundice 
of  about  a  years  duration),  that  he  said,  "  I  have  a 
fancy  for  some  Cider,"  and  as  it  no  longer  mattered 

*  A  good  sketch  of  his  life,  in  which  he  is  recognised  as  "  the  originator 
and  fostering  parent  "  of  railways,  may  be  read  in  the  Illustrated  News, 
of  August  ;th,  1858. 


1858  HIS  LAST  DAYS.  107 

what  he  had  he  was  given  some.  He  seemed  better 
for  it  and  continued  to  drink  it  regularly  day  after 
day,  and  to  the  astonishment  of  his  family,  doctors 
and  friends,  he  quickly  regained  strength,  and  in  a 
few  weeks  perfect  health.  He  used  to  declare  in 
after  life  that  at  seventy  years  of  age  he  began 
a  period  through  which  he  "  enjoyed  the  fullest 
measure  of  health,  and  more  than  he  had  ever  known 
previously." 

In  his  old  age,  when  spoken  to  about  fatigue,  he 
remarked,  "  that  is  something  with  which  I  am  very  little 
acquainted,"  and  repeated  the  same  thing  a  week  before 
his  death.  There  is  however  evidence  that  some  years 
before  he  died  he  must  have  lost  some  of  the  elasticity 
of  step  Smiles  talks  of,  for  there  is  now(i9o6)  at  Pinchin- 
thorpe  Station  a  wooden  step,  that  was  made  for  him 
to  get  in  and  out  of  the  train  with  when  he  travelled 
to  and  from  Ayton. 

On  the  27th  July,  1858,  he  was  hardly  dissuaded 
from  taking  this  journey  to  attend  the  General  Meeting 
of  the  Ayton  Agricultural  School.  He  served  on,  and 
hardly  ever  missed  the  meetings  of,  the  Committee  of 
Management  there  from  1841  to  the  last.  On  the  2Qth, 
although  he  had  suffered  from  slight  indisposition  on  the 
28th,  he  said  he  was  well  and  was  in  the  evening  more 
animated  and  cheerful  than  usual.  The  following  night 
he  became  ill  and  he  knew  what  it  meant,  and  when 
being  asked  to  see  the  doctor,  said,  "  Well,  do  as  you 
think  best.  You  will  find  probably  that  this  is  the 
winding  up  of  a  long  life."  Among  his  words  the  day 
before  he  died,  were,  "  Goodness  and  mercy  have 
followed  me  all  the  days  of  my  life  and  they  will  not 
forsake  me  now."  "  No  great  things — I  never  did 
any  ;  but  a  meek  trust  in  the  mercies  of  my  God  and 
Saviour  and  what  they  have  done  for  me."  He  was 
told  "  that  is  all  the  greatest  and  best  have  ever  been 


io8  EDWARD  PEASE. 

able  to  come  to."  "  Yes,  that  is  all,"  he  said.  The 
next  day  passed  in  great  pain  and  sickness  and  cramp, 
but  he  praised  those  about  him,  saying  that  "  their 
attentions  were  far  exceeding  what  royalty  could 
obtain  in  like  circumstances."  He  said  too,  "  The 
Saviour  hath  said  '  Him  that  cometh  to  me  I  will  in  no 
wise  cast  out/  and  again,  '  He  that  cometh  to  me  shall 
never  hunger  and  he  that  believeth  on  me  shall  never 
thirst,' — thirst  no  more."  Being  told  very  near  the 
end  that  he  was  supported  in  body  and  mind  by  the 
Saviour's  love,  he  made  one  of  his  last  audible  replies 
with  very  characteristic  diffidence  "  Well — measurably." 

He  had  already,  with  warm  words  of  love  and 
welcome,  seen  his  surviving  children  round  his  bed,  and 
till  the  last  kept  on  inquiring  after  them  and  again 
and  again,  repeated,  "  How  much  trouble  I  give." 

His  last  effort  was  to  bring  his  hand  repeatedly  to 
his  eyes  as  though  he  felt  the  supervening  dimness. 
His  face  remained  quiet  and  calm,  he  breathed  more 
and  more  gently  and  without  ever  a  sign,  death  came 
imperceptibly — his  warfare  was  accomplished — and 
those  about  him  saw  how  a  Christian  can  die. 

The  best  portrait  of  Edward  Pease  is  painted  from 
photographs,  daguerreotypes,  engravings  and  silhouettes 
by  Heywood  Hardy,  under  the  superintendence  of 
my  father  and  others  who  knew  him  intimately.  This 
is  of  him  in  his  old  age  and  was  done  for  the  Board  Room 
of  Pease  and  Partners,  Ltd.,  Darlington,  and  was 
pronounced  wonderfully  good  by  those  who  were 
qualified  to  criticise  it.  Every  detail  of  his  ordinary 
dress  was  carefully  reproduced.  It  represents  him 
with  long  white  locks,  strong  features,  an  expressive, 
full,  and  clean  shaven  face,  dressed  in  snuff  coloured 
Quaker  coat,  waistcoat  and  knee  breeches,  blue 
grey  worsted  stockings,  with  a  white  stock  and 
waterfall  cravat.  His  evening  dress  was  similar,  but 


s 


X   w 
X 


Si 


*  2 


JP 


2S     ti   ^    - 
!x      O      u   -tS 


JOSEPH  PEASE'S  REMARKS.  109 

a  black  or  dark  blue  suit  replaced  the  brown  one 
and  brown  silk  or  white  silk  stockings  were  worn 
instead  of  the  grey  ones.  At  night  and  in  fine 
weather,  he  wore  large  black  shoes  with  silver  buckles. - 
In  winter  he  wore  long  box  cloth  gaiters  and  shoes.* 

Till  he  was  very  old  he  absolutely  refused  to  be 
photographed  or  painted,  as  did  every  correct  Quaker  of 
his  time,  but  in  the  end  surrendered  to  the  solicitations 
of  his  family  to  allow  himself  to  be  photographed.  He 
was  tall,  strongly  built,  and  muscular;  he  carried 
himself  very  erect  and  had  a  simple  dignity  in  his 
carriage  and  general  bearing. 

Edward  Pease's  son,  Joseph,  left  behind  him  some 
memoranda  respecting  his  father  and  alludes  to  others 
in  the  possession  of  his  brother  John.  These  I  have 
not  seen,  but  in  Joseph  Pease's  notes  he  describes  his 
father  as  "  of  a  nature  active,  enterprising,  assiduous  and 
benevolent,"  "  of  an  open  and  generous  nature,"  "  no 
indifferent  spectator  of  those  engaged  in  commercial 
pursuits  after  he  had  quitted  them,"  and  "  retaining" 
his  "  mercantile  astuteness."  "  His  information  and 
his  rules  were  of  no  small  value.  Free  of  access  to 
all,  drawn  in  kindness  to  visit  all."  "  His  well  known 
social  habits  rendered  him  a  general  favourite."  "  His 
cheerfulness  was  hardly  ever  known  to  forsake  him, 
hence  his  society  was  attractive  to  the  young." 


*   Vide  Appendix  X. 


THE 

DIARIES     OF     EDWARD     PEASE, 
1824-1858. 


INTRODUCTORY   NOTE. 

T^ROM  the  Annual  Monitor's  Obituary  Notice  of 
Edward  Pease  it  would  appear  his  journals  prior 
to  about  1838  were  destroyed  and  that  there  remain 
only  the  diaries  for  the  last  twenty  years  of  his  life. 
The  first,  I  find,  is  for  1838  and  the  last  for  1857. 
The  record,  therefore,  is  one  of  his  old  age,  beginning 
when  he  was  seventy-one  years  old  and  continued 
regularly  to  his  ninety-second  year.  The  twenty 
volumes*  are  uniform  and  his  diary  is  written  in  a 
publication  called  "  Richard's  Universal  Daily  Re 
membrancer,"  in  which  is  printed  a  mass  of  useful 
contemporary  information. 

The  journals  are  full  of  entries  dealing  with  his 
spiritual  state  and  self-examination.  This  manner 
of  writing  seems  to  have  been  the  common  practice  in 
this  and  the  preceding  periods  of  Quakerism. 
The  amount  of  self-condemnation  that  the  best  of  men 
and  women  record,  is  very  depressing  reading  to  those 
who  are  conscious  of  much  feebler  and  less  successful 
efforts  to  reach  a  much  lower  standard  of  Christian  virtue. 
There  are,  however,  in  these  diaries,  touches  of  genuine 
human  nature  and  allusions  to  matters  of  local  or 
national  interest  that,  I  think,  justify  me  in  giving  as 
much  as  appears  in  the  following  extracts.  Without 
giving  those  entries  which  deal  with  the  inmost  working 
of  his  soul  and  with  his  most  private  feelings,  it  would  be 

*  The  diary  for  1852  is  missing. 


THE  JOURNALS.  113 

impossible  for  those  of  his  descendants  who  read  these 
pages  to  get  so  true  an  impression  of  his  character  and 
of  his  life  as  I  desire  to  give  them.  Although  the  j  ournals 
are  often  concerned  with  his  most  sacred  reflections 
and  matters  of  domestic  privacy,  I  have  no  hesitation 
in  publishing  them.  From  numerous  remarks  it  is 
quite  clear  that  they  were  written  to  reach  posterity. 
Here  is  one  taken  at  random  from  the  2gth  November, 
1845. 

Again,  as  often,  thoughts  arise  about  committing  any 
memoranda  to  this  book  ;  but  as  the  employ  often  leads  me 
into  some  examinations  and  an  inward  scrutiny  into  the 
present  and  a  reflection  on  the  past  and  on  my  omissions  and 
commissions  and  also  of  prospective  duties  to  be  fulfilled,  so 
at  present  I  conclude  to  continue  the  practice,  unmindful 
whether  any  of  my  descendants  may  deem  them  worth  reading 
over ;  if  they  do  may  they  know  they  are  the  productions  of  a 
poor  exercised  pilgrim  who  lives  by  faith  in  the  Son  of  God 
and  in  trust  for  redemption  through  him. 

The  most  touching  allusions  to  his  bereavements, 
his  dead  children  (Mary,  Edward  and  Isaac),  and  above 
all  to  his  wife,  abound.  He  records  his  more  than 
weekly  visits  to  her  grave.  By  day  and  on  winter 
nights  in  the  wind  and  snow,  we  shall  find  him  standing 
over  the  place  where  his  Rachel  rests.  I  shall  not  very 
often  bring  this  picture  before  the  reader,  but  I  give 
one  extract  here  because  it  contains  his  apology  for 
the  practice.  It  is  written  on  a  loose  sheet  of  the 
date  1835  and  not  in  one  of  the  twenty  volumes. 

In  that  silent  and  sorrowing  hour  when  life  was  fled,  that 
precious  impression,  as  from  the  voice  of  my  unspeakably 
dear  companion,  whilst  I  viewed  her  serene  and  peace-beaming 
countenance,  which  seemed  to  say  "  Cherish  my  memory," 
has  ever  remained  fresh  on  my  memory  indeed  ;  and  it  is  known 
to  the  Great  Searcher  of  hearts  .  .  .  how,  whilst  I  have 

10 


H4  EDWARD  PEASE. 

stood  over  that  spot  where  her  dear  remains  lie  reposing, 
I  have  seen  in  intellectual  vision  the  beckoning  finger,  as  it 
were,  to  prepare  and  be  fitted  to  join  her  in  the  abodes  of  the 
blessed ;  and  how  are  my  weekly  visits  to  her  grave  and  the 
cherishing  of  her  memory  made,  through  the  love  of  my 
Redeemer,  to  be  moments  of  deep  instruction  to  me — per 
suading  me  to  strive  to  follow  her  as  she  had  endeavoured  to 
follow  Christ,  at  other  times  to  encourage  me  to  ardency  in 
the  pursuit  of  Heaven — to  guard  against  being  occupied  by 
the  things  of  time,  to  faith  and  faithfulness  and  obedience, 
to  love,  to  mercy,  to  kindness. 

Some  may  condemn  me  for  spending  so  many  moments 
where  that  form  once  so  very  lovely  is  now  laid  but  as  these 
minutes  are  made  to  me,  times  of  a  nearer  union  of  communion 
with  her  spirit  and  my  God,  I  cannot  at  present  resign  the 
practice. 

For  twenty-five  years  after  this  entry,  to  the  end 
of  his  solitary  journey,  he  continues  to  visit  Rachel's 
grave  with  the  same  regularity,  and,  with  a  devotion 
that  never  abates,  records  his  undying  love  for  her. 

Many  years  after  her  death  such  exclamations  as 
the  following  I  often  find  : 

Ah  !  so  sweet,  so  pure,  was  the  affection  which  existed 
between  my  beloved  Rachel  and  myself,  that  if  a  sense  of  it 
could  be  renewed  in  the  interminable  bliss  of  heaven,  my 
joy  would  be  full. 


CHAPTER  I.  ;/| 

1824. 
JOURNEY  ABROAD  IN  THE  ANTI-SLAVERY  CAUSE. 

Seventh  $th  mo. — Attended  Meeting  for  Sufferings  which 
separated  a  Committee  to  continue  "Piety  Promoted,"  or  to 
confer  with  John  Barclay,  leaving  the  Committee  at  liberty 
to  print  testimonies  or  follow  the  plan  of  J.  G.  Bevan.  The 
needful  case  of  Thomas  Shillitoe's  concern  to  visit  Pyrmont  and 
Petersburg,  etc.,  was  referred  to  a  few  Friends,  as  also  the  need 
ful  for  Elizabeth  Walker,  proceeding  to  Pyrmont  and  France 
with  her  companion  Catharine  Price. 

Another  edition  of  the  "  Summary  "  being  wanted  and  its 
reference  having  been  committed  to  J.F.,  L.H.,  W.  A.  and  J.  E. 
and  J.  M.,*  etc.,  they  proposed  a  change  in  the  introductory 
passage  on  doctrine,  which  begins  that  we  believe  with  our 
Christian  profession  in  one  God — a  paragraph  was  read  more 
amply  describing  our  belief  and  much  more  satisfactory,  and 
was  after  some  interesting  remarks  adopted  as  brought  in — the 
word  divine  was  debated,  and  its  sense  said  to  be  agreed  to  by 
many  as  to  the  character  of  Christ  who  yet  denied  the  Godhead. 

No  inconsiderable  number  of  valued  Friends  expressed  their 
great  satisfaction  and  unity  with  my  going  (to  France),  which 
so  far  as  the  brotherly  bond  is  felt  to  be  of  value  was  cheer 
ing  to  me,  and  notwithstanding  my  desire  to  avoid  a  formal 
notice  of  my  proposed  journey  the  meeting  would  give  me 
a  minute  of  free  concurrence. 

I  laid  the  abridgment  of  G.  M.  and  her  progress  on  the 
table  informing  Friends  I  committed  it  to  them  to  finish  and 

*  Josiah  Forster,  Luke  Howard,  William  Allen,  John  Eliot  and 
Josiah  Messer. 

"5 


n6  EDWARD  PEASE.  1824 

publish,  or  if  the  Sub-Committee  on  books  would  consider  it, 
and  point  out  what  was  needful  to  be  done,  I  would  take  it 
to  complete  as  far  as  I  could. 

T.  Shillitoe  I  learnt  had  addressed  a  note  to  Lord  Liverpool, 
requesting  an  audience  with  him  on  the  subject  of  inattention 
to  the  manner  in  which  first  days  were  spent  in  England. 

Sixth  6th  mo. — I  left  London  in  company  with  Cousins 
J.  and  R.  F.,*  the  latter  about  to  commence  her  visits  to  Friends 
in  Kent.  The  road  from  London  to  Rochester  in  many  parts 
in  sight  of  the  Thames  was  strikingly  beautiful,  the  day  was 
cool  and  gloomy,  and  my  situation  not  of  choice  on  the  outside, 
I  was  separated  from  the  interesting  society  of  my  friends. 
We  were  kindly  received  by  W.  Rickman,  where  my  com 
panions  lodged,  whilst  I  was  similarly  accommodated  at 
R.  Horsnaill's  with  much  hospitality, and  from  Friends  generally 
received  much  attention.  We  called  to  see  R.  L.  Weston, 
who  has  upwards  of  fifty  received  in  his  school ;  the  premises 
and  house  are  well  adapted  to  the  establishment,  and  the 
general  appearance  of  things  as  well  as  the  Friend  and  his 
wife  afford  much  satisfaction — the  premises  in  power  of 
accommodation  much  exceeding  those  of  H.  F.  S. — the 
cost  of  house  and  garden  was  £2,500,  and  I  should  think 
£800  more  in  the  erection  of  an  excellent  school  room,  etc., 
had  been  expended. 

The  sight  of  their  instruction  and  the  reflection  of  so  many 
of  our  youth  receiving  a  guarded  and  religious  education  yielded 
a  very  pleasing  reflection  to  my  mind. 

About  twenty  families  of  Friends  compose  this  meeting, 
and  having  the  addition  of  a  girls'  school,  consisting  of  fifteen, 
as  well  as  the  boys,  formed  rather  a  considerable  assembly. 
My  cousin  R.  F.  was  heard  very  agreeably  in  both  meetings. 
At  the  close  of  the  forenoon  meeting  the  school  meeting  was 
held.  I  entertain  some  doubts  about  holding  such  a  meeting 
at  the  close  of  a  meeting ;  it  appeared  to  me  that  time  sufficient 
was  not  afforded  to  sink  down  into  that  solid  contemplation 

*  Josiah  and  Rachel  Forster,  the  latter,  nke  Wilson,  of  Kendal,  was 
a  cousin  of  Mrs.  Edward  Pease.  She  was  born  in  1783,  married  in 
1809,  and  died  1873,  aged  9°-  The  late  Right  Hon.  W.  E.  Forster,  M.P., 
was  a  nephew  of  Josiah  and  Rachel  Forster. 


Act.  57 


IN   PARIS. 


117 


which  the  answering  of  those  momentous  queries  require, 
and  the  remarks  which  sometimes  spring  out  of  their  considera 
tion.  My  mind  was  impressed  with  the  necessity  of  those  who 
have  received  the  King's  commission  as  his  ambassadors  only 
entering  on  their  master's  business  at  his  command  and  not 
enter  into  his  affairs  through  a  willingless  only,  but  really 
watch  for  his  royal  mandate  and  obey  it.  Although  I  re 
gretted  my  detention  in  London,  yet  there  was  so  much 
more  prospect  in  cousin  J.  F.  accompanying  his  dearest  friend* 
to  this  commencement  of  her  Gospel  labour  I  felt  well  satisfied 
with  the  delay,  having  some  humble  hope  that  divine  good 
ness,  who  knows  the  sincerity  of  my  motives  in  this  absence, 
will  extend  his  goodness  to  my  beloved  wife  and  all  my  dear 
connections  left  behind,  and  sincere  have  been  my  desires 
that  we  may  be  enabled  to  excite  a  spirit  of  tenderness  and 
commiseration  for  the  thousands  who  languish  torn  from  their 
native  lands  under  the  hard  taskmaster  and  whip  of  cruelty : 
may  my  valued  companions'  deed  of  mercy  and  charity  meet 
its  full  reward. 


Sixth  mo.,  1824.     IN  PARIS. 

The  Jesuits  at  this  moment  are  taking  steps  after  the 
example  of  the  Bible  Society  to  raise  a  fund  to  be  applied  to 
any  purpose  to  oppose  any  circulation  of  the  Scriptures — 
collecting  id.  a  week  from  each  individual,  and  where  any  one 
who  yet  approved  of  such  opposition  and  could  not  pay  id. 
then  some  individual  would  agree  to  pay  for  them. 

Stapner  says  that  no  association  could  be  formed  to  cir 
culate  R.  F.'s  views  on  defensive  war,  because  the  opinion  was 
not  adopted,  that  it  was  inconsistent  with  the  Gospel ;  the 
propagation  of  opinions  inconsistent  with  the  principles  of 
religion,  or  of  principles  not  acknowledged  would  only  be  their 
self  contradiction, — the  want  of  association  seems  to  stop  the 
circulation  of  all  good, — the  law  does  not  allow  of  more  than 
nineteen  persons  to  collect  in  one  room  without  giving  inform 
ation  to  the  King,  who  then  immediately  orders  a  military 
guard  to  be  mounted  at  the  door  ;  indeed,  military  appear  to 
*  i.e.,  his  wife. 


n8  EDWARD  PEASE.  1824 

be  placed  at  every  entrance  to  the  public  gardens,  and  scattered 
all  over  them,  as  well  as  in  every  street — that  the  present 
reign  may  be  said  to  be  rather  one  of  terror  to  the  subject,  than 
one  of  love  by  which  royalty  is  supported — the  profligate 
licentiousness  of  the  old  king  is  spoken  of  with  contempt  and 
detestation  by  some.  Wishing  to  give  his  mistress  a  Bible  he 
obtained  one  with  plates,  and  displacing  the  lawn  paper  by 
which  each  was  protected,  he  replaced  the  same  with  a  £1,000 
note  before  each,  and  having  built  her  a  house  he  sent  the  large 
gold  key  of  it  set  with  diamonds. 

jth  day. — Called  on  Keifer,  Professor  of  Oriental  Languages 
and  Translator  to  the  Government — our  discourse  turned  on 
the  Turkish  Bible,  which  he  is  now  in  hand  with  for  the  Society  ; 
he  spoke  with  much  calmness  on  Henderson's  and  Patterson's 
opposition,  had  not  heard  that  the  Professor  of  Oriental  Lan 
guages  at  Cambridge  had  defended  him  against  Henderson's 
remarks — he  had  rendered  the  New  Testament  into  Turkish, 
and  showed  us  some  proof  sheets  of  the  Old  as  far  as  Kings. 
En  passant,  I  gave  one  of  the  Yearly  Meeting  addresses  of  last 
year  to  an  elderly  friend  of  his  ;  it  was  accepted  civilly — he 
appeared  to  know  something  of  Friends  and  their  exertions, 
and  asked  our  address. 

Sir  S.  Smith  was  engaged,  Baron  Girardo  also.  Visited  Jas. 
Violette  from  Bourdeaux,  by  which  it  appears  that  the  trade 
is  not  carried  on  at  Bourdeaux  except  some  very  trivial 
shoring,  said  he  was  in  the  trade  in  his  youth  on  the  Coast 
of  Africa,  had  seen  in  numerous  instances  slaves  placed  in 
formations  exactly  the  same  as  the  pounds  of  England,  miser 
ably  dying  of  disease  or  sores,  and  so  affected  with  insects 
that  no  inconsiderable  part  of  the  frame  was  wasted. 

jth  day  afternoon  at  the  Gobelins  and  exceedingly  struck 
with  the  beauty  of  the  tapestry,  exceeding  anything  I  could 
have  conceived  possible  to  be  done  by  the  loom.  The  patterns 
are  taken  from  the  most  beautiful  paintings,  which  it  appeared 
to  me  must  be  executed  in  oil  colours  on  canvas  to  the  same 
shades  and  size  as  is  intended  to  be  executed  on  the  loom  ; 
the  mode  of  warp  as  conducted  in  the  first  room  appeared  to 


Aet.  57  EXPERIENCES  IN  PARIS.  119 

me  to  be  something  of  the  same  principle  as  that  of  the  imi 
tation  India  shawls, — that  surface  of  the  manufacture  only 
being  obvious  which  is  covered  with  all  the  loose  ends  of  the 
silk  (of  which  a  small  quantity  is  used  in  carrying  out  shades), 
and  worsted,  etc.,  which  on  the  completion  of  the  work  must 
be  cut  off — in  the  next  room  the  weaving  was  of  an  entirely 
different  description — the  basis  or  warp  of  cotton  was  perpen 
dicular  from  the  top  of  the  room  to  about  three  feet  from  the 
bottom,  the  thread  being  arranged  as  in  a  common  loom ; 
the  workman  was  placed  behind  the  screen  of  thread  or  cotton 
warp  and  having  a  strong  light  before  him,  he  might  be  said 
to  thread  the  worsted  across  the  perpendicular  warp  with 
the  fingers.  The  pattern  appeared  in  some  degree  drawn  on 
the  warp  as  we  see  it  in  canvas  or  rug-work — the  number 
of  pieces  suspended  from  the  wall  for  exhibition  were  not 
numerous — the  work  is  not  carried  regularly  on  like  common 
weaving,  but  whilst  one  part  of  the  figure  is  proceeded  with 
and  finished  to  some  extent,  other  parts  of  it  are  not  com 
menced  with. 

Children  generally  are  sent  out  to  nurse  by  those  who  can 
afford  it,  soon  after  they  are  born,  and  remain  out  till  fit  for 
boarding  school ;  they  remain  there  till  about  fourteen,  and 
if  females,  are  very  often  affianced  at  that  age,  and  soon 
married  without  affection,  so  that  after  life  becomes  a  source  of 
violation  of  all  mutual  engagement  to  both  parties. 

2nd  day  morning. — Called  at  the  Hotel  du  Ministre  de 
Tlnterieur — found  him  engaged — in  the  Salon  met  with  an 
ecclesiastic  and  the  Bishop  of  Quimper  to  whom  as  two 
strangers  C.  and  J.  F.  introduced  us,  and  requested  each  of 
their  acceptance  of  a  tract  on  the  treatment  of  the  negroes  ; 
at  the  presentment  they  appeared  to  shrink  from  their  accept 
ance,  but  took  them  hesitatingly,  yet  with  acknowledgment. 

Called  again  on  the  learned  Keifer,  found  him  quite  en 
gaged  in  his  translation  of  the  Scriptures  into  the  Turkish 
language,  I  had  no  competent  idea  of  the  laborious  task 
of  such  a  translation  till  I  saw  the  variety  of  authorities 
he  had  laid  open  around  him  to  consult.  Lacy's  Bible, 
Martin's,  and  two  other  French ;  two  English,  one  literal, 


120  EDWARD  PEASE.  1824 

Pool's  annotations  in  Latin,  one  Greek,  one  Hebrew,  one 
German,  and  other  languages,  also  Lexicons  in  great  variety. 
Our  converse  turned  on  his  work,  and  on  the  Bible  Society ; 
we  requested  the  gift  of  a  dozen  copies  for  the  servants,  etc., 
at  our  hotel ;  on  the  whole  he  gave  a  good  account  of  Leo, 
who,  he  said,  had  first  stirred  the  subject  of  Bible  societies, 
and  by  his  exertions  had  brought  it  into  notice.  There  could 
be  no  doubt  of  his  integrity,  but  he  could  not  go  on  consis 
tently  with  any  established  Society  as  he  never  would  render 
any  account  either  of  what  became  of  the  copies  of  the  Bibles 
he  got  or  of  the  application  of  any  money  committed  to  his 
charge. 

Attended  a  sub-committee  of  mutual  instruction,  under 
stood  their  cause  did  not  prosper  in  the  country,  but  in 
Paris  was  in  a  thriving  state — the  adult  schools,  which 
are  numerous,  appear  to  exceed  those  in  England ;  this 
committee  appeared  interested  in  the  work  they  are  engaged 
in. 

It  seems  T.  Shillito  has  had  opportunities  with  the  Bishop 
of  London  and  Archbishop  of  Canterbury ;  he  presented 
J.  G.  G.'s  [Joseph  John  Gurney's]  work  to  each,  the  Arch 
bishop  referred  him  to  Lord  Liverpool  and  Peel.  T.  S.  has 
also  had  an  opportunity  with  the  Lord  Mayor,  who  acknow 
ledged  that  sufficient  attention  was  not  given  to  these  things. 
The  Parisians  having  no  coal,  use  charcoal  in  all  their  cook 
ing  ;  in  all  passages  or  lobbies  you  see  a  square  stove  made  of 
enamelled  earthenware,  mostly  white,  having  the  appearance 
of  common  white  china.  This  stove  has  also  a  china  chimney 
which  at  the  top  of  the  room  is  inserted  into  a  general  chimney 
the  stove  is  warmed  with  charcoal  only  and  will  answer  the 
purpose  of  cooking — the  fixed  (fire)  places  in  the  rooms  are 
always  without  grates,  bars  or  stoves — small  faggots  of  wood 
or  sticks  are  laid  upon  the  hearth  or  upon  two  cross  pieces  of 
iron  raised  two  or  three  inches  to  keep  them  from  laying 
close  to  the  hearth  and  to  admit  a  little  air. 

Every  family  appears  to  roast  its  own  coffee,  and  this  very 
often  conducted  in  the  street ;  the  domestic  sits  at  the  door 
with  a  small  tin  cylinder  fixed  over  a  chafing  dish  containing 
charcoal,  and  continues  to  turn  the  cylinder  till  the  roasting 


Aet.  57         AN  EVENING  AT  STAPNER'S.  121 

is  effected.  The  use  of  charcoal  and  wood  contributes  very 
extensively  to  the  beauty  of  the  scenery  in  the  squares  and 
public  gardens  in  what  may  be  termed  the  centre  of  the  city. 
The  numerous  and  very  large  scale  statues  which  adorn  the 
gardens  and  walks  retain  so  much  beauty  of  colour.  Nothing 
but  the  ideas  of  the  French  could  tolerate  many  of  these  statues. 
3rd  day  afternoon  attended  the  Committee  of  the  Bible 
Society ;  its  correspondence  was  very  interesting,  and  on  the 
whole  there  was  a  spirit  of  energy  quite  exceeding  anticipation. 
Swain,  Sigismund,  Belling,  etc.,  MarkWilks  and  Friend  Minit, 
Stapner,  Keifer  a  member  from  Caen,  in  Normandy. 

4th  day. — Silent  meeting  ;  afternoon,  called  on  Keifer  with 
cousin  Fowler  [Rachel  Fowler,  of  Melksham],  thought  his 
wife  an  interesting  woman,  and  continued  to  think  very 
favourably  of  him.  He  let  us  see  the  congratulatory  letter 
of  the  Sultan  of  Constantinople  to  Louis  on  his  ascending 
the  throne  ;  the  document  was  on  paper  glazed  and  stiffened 
so  as  to  bear  an  exact  resemblance  to  vellum,  the  signature 
was  like  one  ornamented  letter  done  in  gold. 

The  evening  attended  a  soiree  at  Stapner's,  many  young 
females  and  about  the  same  number  of  men.  Frank  sociability 
seemed  wanting,  and  the  only  way  they  appeared  to  have  in 
these  parties  was  a  recourse  to  cards,  which  upon  the  introduc 
tion  of  we  took  leave.  We  received  a  note  this  evening  from 
Villele,  the  Minister  of  Finance  and  Secretary  of  State,  fixing 
an  audience  with  us  on  second  day  next,  and  from  the  Due  de 
Montmorency,  Minister  of  Colonies,  fixing  an  audience  to 
morrow.  Addressed  a  note  to  the  Minister  of  Justice,  Cte  de 
Peyronnett,  requesting  an  interview.  Notwithstanding  our 
efforts  produce  but  little  and  seem  discouraging  we  continue 
to  think  it  the  best  to  claim  increased  attention  to  the  suffer 
ings  of  the  negroes. 

There  is  an  accommodation  and  selection  in  Parisian 
hotels  much  exceeding  anything  I  have  found  in  England — 
the  entrance  door  from  the  staircase  is  into  a  hall  for  servants 
to  wait  in,  and  fitted  with  tables  and  chairs  for  daily  accommo 
dation  ;  next  a  handsome  sitting-room  and  the  lodging  rooms 
in  the  same  line  for  the  same  floor  ;  the  windows  of  the  hotel 


122  EDWARD  PEASE.  1824 

generally  look  into  open  courts  mostly  filled  with  trees,  acacias, 
etc.,  now  beautifully  white  with  flowers ;  ranged  in  square  green 
boxes  by  the  sides  of  the  walls  in  the  court  are  continued  rows 
of  Chinese  arbor  vitae,  which  have  a  pleasing  effect  and  foreign 
appearance.  Here  follow  notes  of  calls  paid  on  Le  Comte 
Corbierre,  Le  Vte.  de  Cast elbaj ere,  and  others. 

$th  day  noon. — During  our  tarriance  in  the  hall  of  the  Min 
ister  of  Colonies,  surrounded  by  a  number  of  naval  officers  in 
their  most  superbly  embroidered  uniforms,  who,  like  ourselves, 
were  waiting  for  audience  and  instructions,  we  introduced 
respectfully  to  them  the  object  of  our  application  to  the 
Minister  of  the  Marine,  and  had  a  courteous  and  patient 
hearing.  He  received  us,  very  attentively  reading  a  paper  we 
had  penned,  being  the  outlines  of  our  object.  Count  Severin 
Tonnerre  has  a  pleasant  and  interesting  countenance.  He  made 
some  remarks  on  what  our  note  stated  as  to  the  present  extent 
of  the  outfit  of  vessels  for  the  slave  trade  from  Nantes  and 
doubted  our  correctness :  to  the  truth  of  this  we  were  able  to 
reply.  He  acknowledged  the  iniquity  of  a  trade  in  human 
beings  and  the  distress  it  must  involve  parents  and  children, 
husbands  and  wives  in  ;  he  said  he  had  strengthened  the  forces 
on  the  coast  of  Senegal,  and  that  he  just  had  a  captain  with 
him  who  complained  of  the  seizure  and  forfeiture  of  his  ship, 
though  he  had  no  slaves  on  board. 

6th  day  morning. — Disappointed  in  finding  the  Due  de  Mont- 
morency  gone  into  the  country.  Received  from  de  Laserre,  the 
banker,  an  introduction  to  Tornoux,  the  celebrated  manufac 
turer  of  fine  cloths.  Called  at  his  hotel.  He  was  also  absent ; 
from  an  intelligent  clerk  I  could  learn  that  Pardoes  had  been 
corresponding  with  them,  but  had  sent  only  samples  of  fine 
yarn  about  eight  to  nine  fils,  which  he  said  was  dearer  than  their 
own  spinning  ;  stress  on  my  part  was  laid  on  thick  yarn,  their 
want  of  Brussels  carpet,  the  bareness  of  their  stairs  and  the 
floors  of  their  most  superb  rooms.  Left  our  address  ;  the  clerk 
lamented  the  folly  of  the  Government,  which  he  said  paid  no 
respect  to  commercial  men  or  the  extension  of  manufacture, 
and  would  not  listen  to  anything  coming  from  his  employer 


Act.  57    THE  FRENCH  AND  THE  SLAVE  TRADE.     123 

Tornoux  as  he  was  one  of  those  liberal  and  enlightened  men 
who  was  not  at  present  in  favor. 

A  general  dissatisfaction  with  Government  I  continue  to 
observe  pervades ;  they  observe  we  have  a  representative  Gov 
ernment  with  power  more  absolute  than  an  arbitrary  one, 
when  the  King  came  a  Constitution  was  agreed  upon,  it  is 
daily  changed  at  his  will  and  we  have  no  power ;  this  almost 
universal  acknowledgement  possibly  may  at  this  moment 
refer  to  the  change  now  made  in  Parliament. 

Called  on  Louis  Dumont  on  our  way  to  attend  Villele, 
Dumont  is  a  pleasant  young  man  employed  in  some  of  the  public 
offices,  he  enters  into  our  views  with  considerable  animation  ; 
he  made  us  feel  some  discouragement  about  going  to  Villele, 
thinking  him  a  complete  courtier,  of  a  cunning  and  intriguing 
disposition,  and  considering  him  as  the  cause  of  Chateau 
briand's  dismissal,  who  though  a  rigid  Catholic,  he  deems  a 
man  of  better  heart.  Villele  he  says  is  the  possessor  of  colonial 
property,  was  some  years  in  the  Isle  of  Bourbon  in  an  official 
station  and  called,  it  may  be  supposed  for  want  of  some 
amiable  qualities,  the  Marat  of  his  day. 

jth  day,  6.20. — Went  to  Minister  of  Finance  Villele ;  he  was 
very  polite  and  skimmed  over  our  paper,  and  endeavoured  to 
show  it  would  not  do  for  them  to  make  slave  carrying  a  capital 
punishment,  that  it  would  exasperate  the  traders,  lead  them  to 
greater  acts  of  cruelty,  and  that  neither  judges  nor  jury  would 
convict.  He  alleged  that  they  were  vigilant,  suppressing  as  they 
can  and  confiscating  property,  and  that  if  our  country  would 
exchange  the  Isle  of  France  for  Goree  and  Senegal,  our 
Government  could  then  do  more  as  it  liked  with  the  coast  of 
Africa. 

In  reply  it  was  said  that  we  did  not  plead  for  death  as  a 
punishment,  but  that  it  should  be  made  criminal,  and  alluded 
to  many  vessels  fitted  out  at  Nantes  ;  he  said  their  officers 
were  on  the  alert,  and  when  any  proofs  of  the  object  of  the 
voyage  were  discovered,  the  cases  were  followed  up ;  it  was 
remarked  that  they  should  have  an  increased  station  on  the 
African  coast,  he  said  the  trade  was  less  than  it  had  been, 
and  that  more  care  was  taken;  allusion  was  made  more 


124  EDWARD  PEASE.  1824 

particularly  to  the  Guinea  Coast.  He  was  urged  to  consider  the 
thousands  annually  enslaved,  the  miseries  and  sufferings  sus 
tained,  and  the  disgrace  to  the  Christian  name.  We  gave  him 
a  copy  of  statements  in  French.  Went  afterwards  to  the  Am 
bassador,  he  was  not  so  courteous  ;  did  not  trouble  him  long, 
thinks  he  can  do  little.  The  American  minister  was  working 
with  more  effect.  The  British  Consul  at  Nantes  is  deeply 
interested  in  suppressing  the  trade  and  has  been  over  to  our 
Government  to  state  facts ;  he  said  there  had  been  several 
vessels  on  the  Eastern  Coast  of  Africa  which  he  had  repre 
sented  to  the  Government. 

Evening  at  Versailles,  tea  with  S.  Lloyd,  who  accompanied 
us  to  the  Petit  Trianon,  the  favourite  residence  of  the  famous 
Josephine,  consort  to  Buonaparte.  I  consider  this  in  its 
simplicity  and  beauty  as  excelling  anything  I  have  seen  in 
France,  the  style  is  English  and  in  some  parts  resembles 
Studley.  One  part  is  very  interesting  called  the  Swiss  farm — 
the  dairy,  the  cowhouse,  the  mill,  the  maison  du  Cure",  the 
cottage  and  every  part  remarkably  Swiss. 

The^  Palace  of  Trianon  is  a  small,  compact  place  of  little 
or  no  magnificence,  but  the  scenery  is  enchanting — the  front 
commands  a  fine  view  of  the  Palace  of  Versailles,  with  which  it 
communicates  along  some  avenues — the  back  is  divested  of 
all  the  cut  tree  formalism  of  Versailles,  and  which  generally 
attaches  to  the  grounds  of  the  Trianon,  but  I  have  seen  no 
trees  in  the  country  which  I  should  call  fine  trees,  nothing 
comparable  to  our  venerable  oaks  and  elms  in  England. 

This  part  of  the  Palace  of  Versailles  which  fronts  the  town 
has  a  fallen,  neglected  state,  and  the  whole  appearance  of 
Versailles,  which  once  contained  90,000  inhabitants  and  now 
27,000,  has  rather  a  desolated  aspect. 

The  Palace,  which  fronts  into  the  grounds,  is  magnificent 
beyond  any  building  I  have  seen,  and  the  view  from  the  terrace 
into  the  grounds  commands  the  opening  of  several  avenues  in 
each  of  which  are  either  immense  marble  basins  with  Tritons 
and  other  figures  or  remarkable  fountains.  The  quantity  of 
polished  Italian  marble  in  steps,  basins,  and  statues  innumer 
able  exceeds  anything  I  could  have  conceived.  The  Orangery 
is  very  extensive  and  to  an  English  eye  must  be  exceedingly 


Aet.  57  JARDIN  DES  PLANTES.  125 

striking ;  there  are  several  hundreds,  and  just  about  breaking 
into  flowers  ;  perhaps  few  scenes  in  the  world  are  calculated  to 
furnish  the  contemplative  mind  with  a  field  so  expansive  as 
this,  where  human  grandeur  is  the  subject  of  its  musings — what 
a  lesson  to  the  proudest  and  most  elevated  in  life  is  here 
presented:  the  residence  of  that  proud  monarch  Louis  XIV., 
and  the  scene  of  his  intimacy  and  finally  of  his  marriage 
with  Madam  Maintenon. 

2nd  day  afternoon. — Seated  under  the  Cedars  of  Lebanon 
in  the  Jardin  des  Plantes,  surrounded  by  very  interesting 
objects  ;  this  garden  is  very  extensive  and  may  be  said  to 
commemorate  Buonaparte's  greatness  of  mind.  Although  it  did 
not  owe  its  origin  to  him  yet  his  genius  enriched  it  with 
specimens  of  natural  history,  the  elephant,  the  elk,  and  numer 
ous  animals  walking  about  in  their  own  enclosures  neatly  and 
rustically  divided.  The  more  tame  animals  were  numerous  : 
goats,  varieties  of  deer,  sheep,  etc.  ;  the  collection  of  birds 
not  numerous  ;  a  great  variety  of  eagles  most  striking. 

On  the  pages  of  the  diary  are  disjointed  memoranda, 
such  as  the  following  : — 

6th  mo.  z^rd,  1824. — Copied  by  Rachel  Fowler,  Sen.,  and 
Edward  Pease,  in  their  walk  through  Pere  la  Chaise. 

PERE  LA  CHAISE. 
Anna  Eleanor  Langford  died  1823,  aet.  16. 

If  talents  lost  and  virtue  claim  a  tear 

Pause,  pensive  mourner,  and  bestow  it  here, 

Meek  resignation  to  the  power  above, 

To  parents  duty  and  to  brothers  love. 

Marked  her  whole  life,  employed  her  latest  breath, 

Till  sickness  laid  her  in  the  arms  of  death. 

A  weeping  mother  in  a  foreign  land,  heard  her  last  sigh, 

Closed  her  dying  eyes  and  clasped  her  death-cold  hand. 

A  weeping  father  in  the  grave  reposed 

Saw  o'er  his  child  the  earth  for  ever  closed, 

Yet  hope  and  Christian  faith  direct  their  eyes 

To  that  high  place  where  virtue  never  dies. 


126  EDWARD  PEASE.  1824 

A  FRENCH  KITCHEN  AT  AMIENS. 

Fire  on  the  hearth,  the  cooking  bench,  with  six  stoves, 
three  yards  long,  covered  with  Holland  tiles,  top,  sides  and 
end  ;  each  stove  heated  with  charcoal ;  thirty-eight  copper 
pans  from  the  largest  to  the  smallest  size,  having  one  shank  as 
our  frying  pans ;  twenty  large  copper  plates,  each  having  a 
long  shank  for  frying  or  pancakes.  Fourteen  fish  pans  of 
copper  from  one  yard  long — a  good  number  copper  moulds 
for  blanc  mange  from  the  size  of  a  large  bowl  to  the  smallest. 


Among  numerous  notes  of  visits  paid  in  Paris  are  those  of 
calls  paid  on : — Count  Lasterin,  Due  de  Broglie,  Wurtz, 
printer,  Villeneuve,  Mark  Wilks — presented  annuity  of  the 
Society  of  Christian  morals,  M.  Soyer  Deralois  fabricant 
Amiens,  maker  of  tabinette  and  bombazine,  Pailoo,  Baron 
Stael,  AlixlaBorde  (Comte),  Baron  de  Lessert. 


CHAPTER  II. 

EXTRACTS  FROM  EDWARD  PEASE'S  DIARIES. 
1838. 

Jan.  i. — Religious  controversy  is  a  field  of  danger  which 
few  enter  and  quit  without  injuring  themselves  and  others. 
The  result  of  the  contest  is  seldom  joyful  and  glorious  as  issuing 
in  the  advancement  of  pure  and  undefined  religion,  but  com 
monly  with  respect  to  both  parties  and  even  spectators  who 
delight  in  religious  disputations  is  found  to  be  wounds  and 
dishonour,  spiritual  declension  and  grief  of  heart.  There  are 
so  many  incentives  to  carnal  and  unholy  passions  that  the 
air,  if  I  may  so  speak,  becomes  contagious  and  can  scarcely 
be  inhaled  without  at  the  same  time  imbibing  the  corrupt 
matter  with  which  it  is  charged.  It  acts  as  a  stimulus  to  the 
unsanctified,  who  seek  the  gratification  of  pride,  selfishness 
and  bigotry,  and  has  a  lethargic  or  lethean  influence  on  the 
righteous  so  that  they  are  too  often  induced  to  forget  that 
"  the  weapons  of  their  warfare  are  not  carnal  but  mighty 
through  God  to  the  pulling  down  of  strongholds."  The  ad 
vantages  they  gain  are  dearly  bought  by  the  diminution  of 
their  spiritual  mindedness,  humility  and  brotherly  love  ;  for 
they  are  tempted  to  rely  on  their  own  skill  in  dispute  instead 
of  simply  depending  on  the  God  of  all  grace,  and  appear  to 
be  more  concerned  to  secure  a  personal  triumph  than  that 
Christ  may  be  glorified  in  them.  Their  arguments  may  be 
good  and  unanswerable  but  they  make  too  much  of  them  when 
they  forget  they  are  "  mighty  "  only  "  through  God,"  and  that 
unless  He  be  pleased  to  give  them  effect,  they  will  be  as  feeble 
and  unavailing  as  the  weakness  of  those  they  [oppose,  "  for 
the  Kingdom  of  God  is  not  in  word,  but  in  Power." 


127 


128  EDWARD  PEASE.  1838 

Sun.,  Feb.  25. — Proposed  to  Abigail  Thorpe  to  accept  the 
position  of  housekeeper  to  me  after  my  dear  daughter  Rachel 
leaves  me,  to  have  £40  per  annum,  to  take  the  general  over 
sight  of  my  indoors  establishment,  the  care  and  spread  of  my 
table  except  in  my  dear  daughter's  presence.* 

Mar  i. — Hired  Joseph  Gatenby  to  come  (as  a  manser 
vant)  at  £20  per  annum,  to  have  two  new  suits,  two  hats  and 
one  morning  jacket  each  year  and  an  upper  coat  once  in  two 
years. 

He  refers  in  eulogistic  terms  to  one  Jabez  Gibson 
(of  Saffron  Walden)  who  is  buried  this  day. 

Tues.,  Mar.  6. — The  last  remains  of  snow,  which  has 
fallen  at  intervals  ever  since  the  2nd  of  ist  mo.,  and  in  rather 
uncommon  quantity,  disappeared  to-day. 

April  3. — Our  Quarterly  Meeting.  We  had  a  large  share 
of  the  company  of  our  friends,  about  thirty  dined  with  us. 

During  this  year  he  pays  many  visits  and  accom 
panies  Hannah  Chapman  Backhousef  on  her  minister 
ing  tours.  Although  he  never  himself  appears  to 
have  taken  part  in  vocal  ministry,  he  now  and  in 
after  years  is  often  found  accompanying  Friends  in 
their  travels  in  the  ministry,  especially  this  Mrs. 
Backhouse  and  his  son  John  Pease.  This  year  he  also 
attends  the  Yearly  Meeting  in  Dublin  with  his 
daughter,  Rachel. 

April  30. — This  day  the  intelligence  reached  me  of  the 
birth  of  a  son  to  my  dear  son}  and  daughter,  Henry  and 
Anna,  at  Middleton  St.  George. 

*  Rachel  his  daughter  was  engaged  and  married  in  August, 
1838,  Richard  Fry,  of  Bristol.  She  died  in  1853,  and  her  husband  in 

1878. 

f  Hannah  C.  Backhouse,  nte  Gurney,  of  the  Grove,  Norwich, 
married  Jonathan  Backhouse,  of  Darlington. 

\  This  son  was  Henry  Fell  Pease,  who  afterwards  was  the  first 
M.P.  for  Cleveland.  He  was  the  only  son  by  his  father's  first  wife,  who 
was  a  daughter  of  Richard  and  Mary  Fell ;  she  died  27th  October, 


Act.  71        BETROTHAL  OF  RACHEL  PEASE.  129 

Mon.y  May  7. — Dined  at  Jonathan  Pirns,  sailed  for  Liver 
pool  in  the  evening.  On  the  passage  ruminated  on  a  very 
disturbed  close  of  the  Yearly  Meeting  yesterday  from  a  Friend 
kneeling  and  commencing  an  extended  supplication  after  the 
meeting  had  risen. 

Tues.,  May  8. — Reaching  Liverpool  this  evening  after 
a  remarkably  fine  passage  (twenty-four  hours)  and  proceeded 
on  our  way  towards  Walden*  by  the  Grand  Junction  Railway 
to  Birmingham,  thence  to  Leamington.  .  .  . 

He  attends  the  Yearly  Meeting  in  London  and 
returns  for  a  fortnight  or  so  to  Saffron  Walden. 

Mon.,  June  18. — Left  my  dear  son  and  daughter 
Gibson.  .  .  .  This  dearly  loved  pair,  blessed  with  the 
blessings  of  the  heavens  above  and  of  the  earth  beneath — 
very  ardent  are  my  longings  that  they  would  bring  their 
tithes  unto  the  storehouse  of  their  bounteous  Lord.  .  . 

Thurs.,  June  21. — (Darlington).  The  access  to  our 
Meeting-house  is  at  present  incommoded  by  removing  a 
range  of  cottages,  a  stable  and  the  small  Meeting-house  f  next 
the  street. 

Fri.,  June  22. — Gave  notice  to  Gervas  Robinson,  the 
Registrar,  of  daughter  Rachel's  proposed  marriage,  when  he 
took  her  signature. 

My  affection  for  this  precious  daughter,  my  lonesomeness 
when  she  is  gone  are  the  pervading  feelings  of  my  mind  and 
they  may  be  the  sole  causes  of  that  mysterious  reluctance 
which  I  have  in  resigning  her  to  the  Friend  who,  I  believe,  is 
sincerely  attached  to  her. 

1839.  In  this  year,  1838,  references  are  found  in  these  journals  to 
her  delicate  health.  Henry  Pease  married  secondly,  1859,  Mary 
Lloyd  vide  p.  401,  and  had  issue,  three  sons  and  two  daughters. 

*  His  daughter  Elizabeth  married  Francis  Gibson,  of  Saffron  Walden, 
Essex,  in  1829.  Their  only  son  died  unmarried  at  Florence  ;  their 
only  daughter,  Elizabeth  Pease  Gibson,  married  Lewis  Fry  (Rt.  Hon. 
Lewis  Fry,  M.P.,  and  brother  of  Lord  Justice  Fry). 

t  Prints  of  the  old  Meeting  House  exist,  one  of  which  is  in  my 
possession. — A.  E.  P. 

11 


I3o  EDWARD  PEASE.  1838 

Tues.,  June  26. — At  St.  Helens.  Called  this  evening 
on  a  few  poor  Friends — on  one  of  them  to  considerable  satis 
faction — pilgrims  who  desire  to  be  on  their  way  to  heaven  do 
well  to  communicate  with  each  other  about  the  road.  Visited 
that  which  is  to  me  a  hallowed  spot  [i.e.,  his  wife's  grave]. 

Thurs.,    June    28. — Almost    universal    idleness,    feasting 

and  rejoicing  on  this  day  of  the  Coronation  of  Queen  Victoria. 

.     Oh,  for  a  more  Christian  way  of  celebrating  what  are 

deemed  auspicious  events.     ...     A  confused  company  to 

feast  at  the  opening  of  John  Fell's  Mill  to  end  up  as  it  begins. 

Fri.,  June  29. — Some  mournful  feelings  are  mine  on 
learning  that  some  of  our  young  men  were  among  the  festive 
parties  of  yesterday  ;  scenes  of  music  and  clamorous  noise 
ought  to  be  held  in  great  repugnance  by  all  sober  Christians. 

Wed.,  July  4. — Low  and  tried  during  the  whole  of  this  day. 
Returning  (from  Sunderland)  from  the  Quarterly  Meeting  in 
the  carriage  with  Edward  and  Rachel,  I  was  silent  nearly  the 
whole  way,  nothing  could  raise  or  cheer  me,  the  contemplation 
of  having  so  soon  to  part  with  my  beloved  daughter  to  Bristol, 
etc.,  absorbed  me.  Richard  Fry  came  in  the  evening. 

Fri.,  July  6. — Received  a  summons  to  attend  the  Grand 
Jury  on  the  23rd  inst.  After  pondering  my  conscientious 
difficulties  therein,  I  attended,  and  thinking  it  might  be  in 
my  power  to  be  excused — I  was  best  satisfied  to  acquiesce 
and  maintain  a  care  not  to  put  questions  after  the  oath  was 
administered.  The  ground  of  my  willingness  now  to  attend 
is  founded  on  my  wish  to  find  an  opportunity  for  pressing  on 
the  jurors,  the  propriety  of  using  some  efforts  towards  sub 
stituting  declarations  instead  of  oaths.  The  advance  of  Chris 
tian  principles,  however  little  may  be  gained  at  once,  is  worthy 
of  an  effort. 

Sat.,  July  7. — Admonished  a  Friend  who  I  feared  was  back 
sliding  ;  his  worthy  father  a  humble  minister  in  our  Society. 
The  love  of  company  and  ardent  love  of  tobacco,  and  some  love 
of  liquor,  to  some  minds  seems  sure  captivity.  On  my  way 
sifted  my  motives  as  to  what  impelled  me  to  this  task,  found 


Act.  71  QUAKER  TERMS.  131 

my  station  as  an  overseer  demanded  it,  my  love  and  gratitude 
to  my  Lord  called  for  the  service,  but  perhaps  stronger  than 
this  was  the  sense  that  should  this  Friend  lose  his  inheritance 
in  heaven. 

Sun.,  July  8. — Attended  a  Public  Meeting  at  Stockton 
this  evening,  appointed  by  my  dear  son  (John  Pease)  ;  it  was 
not  large,  the  peace-bestowing  influence  of  the  government 
of  Christ  on  individuals  and  kingdoms  was  set  forth;  the 
auditory  was  settled  and  attentive,  and  the  meeting  ended 
solemnly  after  a  supplication  from  John  and  cousin  M. 
Atkinson. 

"  Public  meetings  "  among  Quakers  are  meetings 
held  for  the  primary  object  of  reaching  the  public 
at  large  with  some  message,  and  are  distinct  from  the 
ordinary  meetings  for  worship  of  the  Society,  though 
the  public  are  never  refused  admittance  to  the  latter. 
I  give  some  of  these  extracts  as  illustrations  of  the 
peculiar  expressions  in  vogue.  I  might  here  call 
attention  to  the  very  confusing  habit  of  bestowing 
the  description  of  cousin,  aunt,  brother,  sister  to  persons 
outside  the  relationship  which  these  appellations  are 
intended  to  imply.  In  this  case  I  was  very  much 
puzzled  to  find  out  how  this  Cousin  M.  Atkinson  was 
related.  Here  is  the  thread  : — 

Anthony  Wilson,  b.  1663,  d.  1755. 

m.  1702  Dorothy  Benson,  b.  1678,  d.  1755. 


Elizabeth  Wilson,  b.  1703,  d.  1781.  Isaac  Wilson,  b.  1714/15,  d.  1785. 

I  m.  1742  Regd.  Holme,  b.  1694,  I  m.  Rachel  Wilson,  b.  1720, 

d.  1772.  d.  1775. 

Elizabeth  Holme,  b.  1743/4,  d.  1792,  Dorothy  Wilson,  b.  1741,  d.  1774, 

m-    J775    Anthony    Clapham,  I  m.     1765    John     Whitwell, 

b.  1743/4,  d.  1792.  b.  1735,  d.  1782. 

5th  child  6th  child 

Margaret  Clapham,  b.  1780,  d.  1860.  Rachel  Whitwell,  d.  1833. 

m.  1809  Benjamin  Atkinson.  m.  1796  Edward  Pease. 

Thus  Edward  Pease's  wife's  mother  and  Mrs.   M. 

Atkinson's  mother  were  first  cousins. 


I32  EDWARD  PEASE.  1838 

Wed.,  July  IT. — Peaceful  in  meditating  where  the  hallowed 
ashes  sleep ;  viewed  with  some  calmness  my  next  great  be 
reavement  in  having  soon  to  resign  to  the  chosen  of  her  bosom 
a  darling  daughter  who  has  been  my  companion,  my  carer, 
my  consoler  and  my  comforter  since  that  solemn  hour  which 
saw  interred  all  that  lies  before  me,  to  be  freed  from  the 
fluctuations  of  time,  the  trials  of  affection  severed  and  be  laid 
nigh  to  the  remains  of  my  beloved  at  some  early  day  if  con 
sistent  with  the  will  of  my  God  .  .  .  was  the  desire  of 
my  pensive  but  adoring  spirit. 

Sat.,  July  14. — Yesterday  my  dear  Edward  had  one  of  his 
trying  attacks  ;  how  tenderly  I  feel  for  this  beloved  son  in 
this  afflicting  permission  of  divine  goodness,  but  what  a  favour 
that  no  murmur  repining  or  complaint  escapes  his  lips  though 
cut  off  from  many  of  the  occupations  and  enjoyments  which 
vigorous  health  and  the  bloom  of  life  is  fraught  with. 

Mon.,  July  16. — Richard  Fry  returned  to  Bristol  the  last 
time  ere  he  obtain  the  prize  which  has  been  the  object  of  his 
last  twelve  months  pursuit.  A  combination  of  circumstances 
make  me  sad  when  I  consider  this  event — probably  my  love 
for  my  endeared  child  ;  a  sense  of  the  greatness  of  my  privation 
when  she  is  gone  ;  the  disappointed  expectation  that  from 
her  tenderness  I  should  have  had  the  last  offices  to  close  my 
dying  eyes,  the  want  of  a  granted  vision  into  the  happiness 
of  her  future  lot — may  this  be  plenary. 

Fri.,  July  20. — A  few  days  of  mournful  desertion  :  heavens 
as  brass.  Some  remembrance  of  the  patience  of  the  cripple 
by  the  side  of  Bethesda  who  after  a  patient  wait  by  the  side 
of  the  pool  for  thirty-eight  years,  was  healed  by  the  Lord — 
Lord  remember  me. 

Mon.,  July  23. — At  Durham  on  the  Grand  Jury,  endea 
voured  with  Liddel  the  Chairman  and  some  of  the  Jurors,  to 
obtain  their  favourable  consideration  of  adopting  declarations 
instead  of  oaths  agreeably  to  a  bill  of  Lord  Denman's,  just 
rejected.  Herein  I  made  in  conjunction  with  my  cousin 
Edward  Backhouse,  but  little  way.  Returned  home  same 


Act.  7i         MARRIAGE  OF  HIS  DAUGHTER.  133 

evening  after  viewing  the  prisoners  and  the  interior  of  the  Jail. 
In  point  of  order,  cleanliness  and  accommodation  vastly 
superior  to  those  dungeons  in  which  ancient  Friends  suffered. 

Wed.,  Aug.  i. — My  dear  F.  and  Eliz.  Gibson  and  children 
came.  A  tea  drinking  of  teetotallers  in  my  paddock,  about 
300  who  have  tickets  of  is.  each  present,  held  on  this  day  to 
commemorate  the  abolition  of  slavery,  while  I  sincerely  wish 
well  to  this  total  abstinence  system  .  .  (here  follow  some 
criticisms  similar  to  those  which  recur  in  these  journals). 

Mow.,  Aug.  13. — He  records  "  Rachel's  property  which 
she  takes  to  Richard  Fry  at  the  time  of  her  marriage."  The 
total  is  £4,670  and  includes  "  10  Railway  Shares  S.  and  D. 
£2,500  ;  10  Half  Railway  Shares  (125)  £1,250,"  etc. 

Thurs.,  Aug.  16. — My  beloved  daughter  Rachel  married  this 
day  to  Richard  Fry  (then  follows  an  account  of  the  "solemn 
isation  agreeably  conducted") — We  had  a  sorrowing  parting, 
whether  ever  to  meet  again  or  under  what  circumstances  is 
veiled  from  me. 

Among  the  guests  on  this  occasion  were  "  Joseph 
Fry,  his  Sister  Anna  and  their  Aunt  Sarah  Allen," 
who  left  his  house  a  few  days  after  the  wedding. 

Tues.,  Aug.  21. — Attended  the  Monthly  Meeting  at 
Cotherstone.  .  .  There  were  two  presentations  of  marriage, 
viz.  :  Henry  Broadhead,  of  Leeds,  with  Cousin  Eliza 
Backhouse  ;  and  John  Harris  with  Mary  Ann  Mason,  of 
Penrith.*  After  meeting  went  to  Middleton  in  Teesdale. 

*  "  Presentations." — The  preliminaries  to  marriage  are  carefully 
regulated  in  the  Society  of  Friends.  Among  these  are  the  filling  up  of 
forms.  No.  i ,  a  Declaration  of  Intention,  which  includes  a  declaration 
that  the  parties  "  are  clear  of  any  other  marriage  engagements,"  and 
No.  2,  a  Declaration  of  Consent  of  Parents  and  Guardians.  These  forms 
are  transmitted  to  the  Clerk  of  the  Monthly  Meeting  of  which  the 
parties  are  members,  who  has  to  secure  a  public  notice  of  the  intention 
being  given  as  soon  as  possible  at  the  close  of  the  Sunday  morning 
meeting  for  worship  in  the  Meeting-houses  the  parties  attend.  All 
objections  must  be  made  in  writing  to  the  Clerk  of  the  Monthly  Meeting. 
After  the  expiration  of  fourteen  days  from  the  giving  of  public  notice 
the  forms  are  presented  to  the  Monthly  Meeting,  and  if  all  is  in  order  as 


134  EDWARD  PEASE.  1838 

It  is  difficult  not  to  feel  impatient  sometimes 
with  the  straightlacedness  of  the  old  gentleman,  as 
when  he  writes  : — 

Sat.,  Aug.  25. — Went  to  Newcastle.  The  town  very  busy 
on  account  of  the  Scientific  Meetings  which  have  been  held 
there  during  the  past  week  and  which  concluded  this  evening. 
The  advancement  of  science  and  general  knowledge  is  the 
ostensible  object,  but  hundreds  of  the  most  respectable  in 
habitants  of  various  kingdoms  assemble  for  curiosity,  display 
and  amusement.  To  such  it  is  an  idle  lounge  and  waste  of 
time,  etc. 

The  following  day  he  accompanies  Hannah  Chap 
man  Backhouse  to  a  meeting  in  Newcastle,  who  had 
a  concern  to  reach  these  scientific  persons  who  would 
not  often  be  likely  to  hear  "  a  Gospel  ministry  which 
testifies  against  the  ordinances  of  and  many  maxims 
of  men."  Although  the  Meeting-house  was  full,  it 
"  was  thinly  attended  by  such  characters,  yet  there 
was  a  large  and  respectable  auditory." 

Fri.,  Aug.  31. — Reading  Henry  Martin's  life  and  letters  I 
am  forcibly  struck  with  his  piety,  his  zeal,  the  renunciation 
of  self-consideration  that  he  might  serve  the  Lord  Christ. 
What  am  I  ?  How  do  I  spend  this  evening  of  my  life  ? 

Sun.,  Sept.  2. — At  Croft  this  afternoon  with  my  devoted 
and  industrious  cousin,  H.  C.  Backhouse,  at  a  publick  meeting ; 
the  auditory  numerous,  suppose  2  to  300,  silent,  solid  and 
civil ;  how  great  the  alteration  in  these  respects  since  my 
youth,  so  remarkably  increased  in  the  attendance  of  all  places 
of  worship,  that  I  cannot  but  believe  that  whilst  much  of 
outward  form  is  observed  and  much  attachment  evinced  to 
that  which  is  outward  and  ritual,  there  is  a  great  and  growing 
general  belief  in  the  guidance  and  teaching  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

regards  the  Society's  and  the  Law's  requirements  the  Monthly  Meeting 
directs  the  Clerk  to  record  a  Minute  in  form  liberating  the  parties  to 
solemnise  the  marriage.  Though  the  publication  at  the  meeting  of 
intention  should  be  in  prescribed  words  the  form  has  sometimes 
been  departed  from.  This  procedure  is  now  modified. 


Aet.  71      PUBLIC  MEETINGS  IN  CLEVELAND.          135 

Wed.,  Sept.  5. — My  nephew  and  niece,  Joseph  and  Jane 
Clay  came. 

The  following  table  shows  this  relationship  :— 

John  Whitwell,  b.  1735,  d.  1782. 
1765  m.  Dorothy  Wilson,  b.  1741,  d.  1774. 


| 

|| 

I 

1 

Isaac  Whitwell. 

John. 

Twins 

Hannah 

Rachel 

ob.  inf. 

m. 

married 

Geo.  Coates. 

Edward 

l\\ 

Pease. 

i. 

Wil 

iam  Whitwell 

,  b.  1809, 

T 

m.  Sarah  Routh 
and  had  issue. 

2.  John    Whitwell,    b.    1811, 

(M.P.  1868-1880), 
m.  Anna  Maude 
and  had  issue. 

3.  Thos.  Whitwell,  b.  1814. 

4.  Isaac  Whitwell,  b.  1815. 

5.  Edwd.   Whitwell,  b.  1817. 

m.  Mary  Ann 
Jowitt. 

6.  Henry  Whitwell,  b.  1818, 

shot  in  Madrid. 
1848  m.  Anne 
Backhouse  Rob- 
son  and  had  issue. 

7.  Jane  Whitwell,  b.  1807,  d. 

1858,  m.  1834 
Joseph  Travis 
Clay,  of  Rastrick, 
b,  1804,  and  had 
issue. 

8.  Hannah    Maria,    1832    m. 

John  Jowitt  Wil 
son  and  had  issue. 

On  Monday,  September  loth,  he  accompanied 
his  son  John  to  pay  "  a  little  debt  of  Gospel  love  laid 
upon  him  to  assemble  the  inhabitants  of  Guisboro', 
Whitby  and  Ayton."  "  The  meeting  at  Guisborough 
was  large,  satisfactorily  and  solidly  held."  On 
the  Tuesday  they  "  travelled  over  the  moors  to 
Whitby  where  all  the  remarks  respecting  the  meeting 
at  Guisborough  fully  apply."  ..."  We  were 
kindly  and  hospitably  accommodated  by  Jos.  Sanders 
and  his  wif  e. ' '  The  next  day  they  hold  a  public  meeting 


136  EDWARD  PEASE.  1838 

at  Ayton,  but  here  there  was  not  "  that  openness  to 
receive  the  Gospel  message."  They  "  remain  at 
Langbarf  "  [the  Richardsons]. 

Fri.,  Sept.  28,  1838. — At  the  marriage  of  my  cousin  Eliza 
Backhouse  to  Henry  Broadhead,  of  Leeds,  enough  of  ministry 
in  the  meeting,  not  weighty  enough — words  without  any  evi 
dence  of  power  are  worse  than  tinkling  cymbals. 

Wed.,  Oct.  17. — For  several  days  past  my  mind  has  solemnly 
felt  the  near  approach  of  that  affecting  day  when  my  God,  who 
had  given  for  a  season  one  of  his  richest  blessings,  saw  it  meet 
to  take  it  again  unto  himself.  .  . 

Oh,  where  the  Christian  ends  her  days 
Lingers  a  lovely  line  of  rays, 
That  speaks  her  calm  departure  blest 
And  promises  to  those  who  gaze, 
The  same  beatitude  of  Rest. 

Thurs.,  Oct.  18. — Five  years  have  this  day  run  their  course 
since  the  departure  of  my  inestimable  and  most  unspeakably 
dear  Rachel.  .  .  How  vivid,  how  fresh  the  solemnity  of 
that  day  and  that  hour  when  I  clasped  her  dying  hand  till  the 
pulse  ceased  to  beat. 

Fri.,  Oct.  19. — Five  years  have  now  passed  over  me  as  a 
widower  ;  the  present  time  compared  with  the  past  oftentimes 
feels  lonesome  and  dreary. 

Sat.,  Oct.  20. — At  Newcastle  attending  to  a  manufacturing 
concern  I  have  an  interest  in  there.  In  the  evening  found  that 
my  mind  had  been  too  much  occupied  in  consideration  of  its 
prospects  and  gains. 

Mon.,  Oct.  22. — Returned  home  from  Newcastle,  where  I 
learnt  that  my  cousin  Samuel  Lloyd  had  been  baptised 
with  water,  and  I  deplored  it.  What  a  delusion  of  the  adver 
sary  I  believe  this  to  be — believing,  as  I  do,  that  if  I  am  bap 
tised  into  the  Spirit  of  my  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  it 
is  that  cleansing  and  purifying  baptism  which  sanctifies  the 
Soul  and  fits  it  for  an  entrance  where  all  is  peace  and  Joy. 


Aet.  71  THE  PIKES  OF  IRELAND.  137 

Mon.,  Oct.  29. — At  Middlesbrough,  where  a  large  concourse 
was  assembled  to  see  the  Duke  of  Sussex  who  was  this  day 
invited  to  a  public  breakfast.  I  had  no  share  in  this  festivity. 
I  had  some  care  of  four  of  my  grandchildren,  but  with  my 
views  of  the  retiredness  of  a  Christian  life,  etc.,  the  evening 
had  no  sweet  peace  as  the  reward  of  a  well  spent  day. 

Sat.,  Nov.  3. — Anxious  to  leave  all  things  in  good  order,  I 
considered  my  Will  and  directed  it  to  be  re-drawn  ;  very 
solicitous  that  it  might  form  the  very  nearly  equal  distribution 
and  be  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  my  beloved  children.  If  in  the 
residue  there  is  a  little  extra  to  dear  John  and  Joseph  from 
their  having  long  unprofitably  toiled  in  the  business  (in 
which)  I  placed  them,  but  having  since  tended  to  advance  my 
property  it  is  my  wish. 

Sun.,  Nov.  18. — Endeavord  tenderly  to  reprove  a  back 
slider  for  neglect  of  meeting,  and  other  inconsistencies. 
He  had  not  been  out  to  meeting,  it  was  near  seven  o'clock, 
his  dinner,  wine  and  tumblers  and  music  books  were  on  his 
table — warned  him — my  entreaty  was  that  of  a  Father  coun 
selling,  warning  and  expostulating  with  a  Son. 

Wed.,  Nov.  28. — James  Pike  came  for  his  sister  Lydia,  an 
open,  ingenuous  young  man  engaged  in  an  exposed  position 
in  a  Steam  packet  office  in  Liverpool. 

Fri.,  Nov.  30. — In  my  walk  this  morning  had  an  oppor 
tunity  of  affectionately  expressing  to  James  Pike  my  tender 
concern  for  his  present  preservation  and  eternal  interest. 
.  .  .  This  little  office  of  love  discharged  to  a  young  man 
affords  me  peace  and  all  such  offices  will  afford  peace  where 
pure  love  is  the  impulse  to  fulfilled  duty. 

Mon.,  Dec.  3. — Lydia  Pike,  after  a  two  months'  resi 
dence,  left  me  accompanied  by  her  brother  James.  My  heart 
yearns  for  the  preservation  of  this  amiable  young  woman  of 
eighteen,  her  lot  seems  cast  in  a  slippery  place.* 

*  The  Pikes  were  of  old  Irish  Quaker  Stock,  descended  from  one 
Richard  Pike,  who  was  born  at  Newbury  in  1627,  and  his  wife,  Eliza 
beth  Jackson,  born  1636.  He  was  a  Cromwellian  soldier  and  served 


138  EDWARD  PEASE.  1838 

Wed.,  Dec.  5. — In  a  sense  of  the  remarkable  mercy  and 
loving  kindness  of  my  God,  I  have  this  day  concluded  it  right 
to  set  apart  sundry  small  sums  to  be  distributed  by  my 
executors  after  my  decease,  to  poor  friends  and  for  other  useful 
purposes,  but  besides  all  the  temporal  blessings  and  gifts  so 
liberally  bestowed,  my  Spirit  yet  more  reverently  returns  thanks 
for  that  Grace  and  truth  which  came  by  Jesus  Christ,  my  hope 
of  redemption. 

The  following  day  he  goes  to  Northallerton,  then 
to  Borroby,  where  he  visits  a  family  "  not  Friends," 
whose  children  he  remarks  are  "  greatly  neglected 
in  the  school  learning."  "  Thence  to  an  evening 

as  N.C.O.  in  a  troop  of  horse  in  the  Rebellion  of  1648.  Richard  Pike 
turned  Quaker  and  farmed  at  Kilcreagh,  near  Cork,  and  afterwards  in 
1664  removed  to  Cork  and  kept  a  shop  there.  He  died  in  1668,  and 
his  wife  in  1688.  In  the  Life  of  his  son,  Joseph  Pike,  born  1657,  there 
are  some  curious  descriptions  of  the  procedure  in  the  family  in  relation 
to  plainness  of  speech  and  simplicity  of  furniture,  e.g.,  "  Our  fine 
veneered  and  garnished  cases  of  drawers,  cabinets,  scrutoires,  etc.,  we 
put  away  and  exchanged  for  decent  plain  ones  of  solid  wood.  .  .  . 
Our  wainscots  or  woodwork  we  had  painted  one  plain  colour,  also  our 
large  mouldings  and  finishings  of  panelling,  etc.  ;  our  swelling  chimney- 
pieces,  curiously  twisted  bannister  we  took  down  and  replaced  with 
useful  plain  woodwork.  .  .  .  Our  large  looking-glasses  with 
decorated  frames  we  sold  or  made  them  into  smaller  ones,  and  our 
closets  that  were  laid  out  with  many  little  curios  or  nice  things  were 
done  away."  .  .  "  And  our  dear  wives  also  joined  in  spirit 

with  us  by  putting  away  their  silk  garments,  instead  of  which  they  got 
plain  stuffs." 

"Now,  in  regard,  I  have  mentioned  the  wearing  of  plain  silks, 
among  the  rest,  which  are  still  worn  in  England  by  some  honest-minded 
women  Friends.  .  .  .  I  do  not,  then,  esteem  it  wrong  in  itself  to  wear 
plain,  modest-coloured  silk  clothes,  provided  the  mind  be  not  affected 
with  a  delight  in  them,  and  especially  worn  in  a  climate  where  the  heat 
requires  it  ;  nor  do  I  believe  that  many  who  wear  them  are  so  proud  of 
them  as  some  who  wear  none.  Nay,  further,  I  will  say  that  if  women 
Friends  had  from  the  first  putting  them  on  kept  to  plain,  grave  colours, 
and  not  changed  their  fashions  and  colours,  I  know  not  but  that  such 
sort  of  silks  might  have  been  used  to  this  day.  But  the  ill  tendency 
lay  here,  that  from  grave,  plain  colours  some  got  lighter  colours,  others 
exceeding  them  adopted  variable  ones  (shot  ?),  then  others  a 
small  stripe,  then  another  a  small  figure,  then  another  a  large  flower. 
Thus  they  followed  one  another's  example,  until  at  length  . 
For  my  part  when  I  was  in  England  I  could  not  know  by  their  habit 
who  were  called  Friends  from  those  who  were  not  ;  and  with  sorrow, 
I  speak  also  of  some  men  Friends,  both  by  their  vain,  fashionable 
apparel  and  excessive,  fine,  superfluous,  household  furniture." 

Arthur  Pease,  a  grandson  of  Edward  Pease,  married  a  daughter  of 
this  Lydia  Pike,  who  married  Ebenezer  Pike. 


Aet.  71  EDWARD  PEASE,  JUNIOR.  139 

meeting    at    Osmotherley,  about    twenty-five    present 
.     a  great  want  of  attention  to  learning  here  : 
near  twenty  children  in  three  families." 

Thurs.,  Dec.  13. — Executing  my  will  this  day  produces 
some  solemn  reflections  that  when  it  comes  into  force  my 
humble  hope  is  my  spirit  may,  through  the  revelation  and  mer 
ciful  mediation  of  my  Intercessor  and  Redeemer,  be  at  rest  in 
His  eternal  kingdom — joining  the  spirit  of  my  beloved. 

Fri.,  Dec.  14. — My  dear  son  Edward  poorly — the  thought 
of  being  bereft  of  his  affectionate  and  sweetly  innocent  and 
to  me  endearing  society  depresses  my  poor  mind,  which  deeply 
and  keenly  feels  how  bereaved  I  am — comparatively  lonesome 
my  home  feels  since  my  beloved  daughter  left  me. 

Mon.,  Dec.  17. — Discouraged  and  affected  in  seeing  the 
languid  reduced  state  of  my  precious  son,  Edward,  and  the 
suffering  he  so  meekly  endures. 

Tucs.,  Dec.  18. — Not  much  difference  in  the  situation  of 
my  beloved  Edward ;  my  tenderest  feelings  and  my  deepest 
sympathy  is  excited.  May  it  stand  consistent  with  the  will 
of  the  Holy  and  righteous  Judge  to  restore  to  me  this  only  and 
last  dear  remains  of  my  large  family  as  my  indwelling  com 
panion. 

Wed.,  Dec.  19. — Dear  Edward  still  ill  and  after  a  painful 
and  very  wearisome  tossing  night,  whilst  in  much  tender  feeling 
for  him  I  inquired  if  he  was  favord  with  a  quiet  mind  ;  turning 
his  face  to  the  wall  he  remained  silent  a  while,  and  whilst  a 
tear  appeared  to  flow  over  his  cheek,  replied,  "  I  do." 

Sat.,  Dec.  29. — On  considering  my  practice  for  several  past 
years  of  never  retiring  to  my  bed  until  I  have  read  one  or  two 
chapters  of  the  holy  Scriptures,  and  the  like  care  every  morning 
ere  I  leave  my  chamber,  I  feel  I  have  to  lament  the  evanescent 
abiding  of  the  sacred  truths  I  read,  yet  I  cannot  give  up  the  prac 
tice  as  the  desire  of  my  spirit  is  sometimes  granted  that  portions 
may,  during  the  day,  arise  for  my  comfort  and  instruction. 


140  EDWARD  PEASE.  1838 

The  year  ends  with  his  son  Edward  "  a  little 
improved." 

On  the  last  day  of  the  year  he  makes  a  longer 
entry  than  usual,  beginning  with  the  fact  that  he  is 
seventy-one-and-a-half  years  old.  I  give  one  or  two 
extracts  from  it  : — 

Amazing  is  the  retrospect  of  life — how  utterly  indescrib 
able  are  all  events  connected  with  it — its  sorrows,  its  joys, 
its  cares,  its  hopes,  its  fears,  its  doubts,  its  anxieties,  its  per 
plexities  and  distresses.  What  but  the  power  of  a  gracious 
and  merciful  Creator's  arm  underneath  could  have  helped  me 
in  all  the  changes  and  vicissitudes  which  are  above  enumerated 
in  my  long  life.  May  my  Soul  magnify  and  adore,  and  to  my 
latest  day  commemorate  the  kindness  and  watchful  care  of 
the  Highest,  not  only  for  outward  blessings,  but  above  all  for 
the  gifts  of  his  Son,  to  whose  mediation,  intercession  and 
holy  influence  I  owe  preservation  from  falling  in  with  many  of 
the  allurements,  temptations,  and  gilded  baits  of  an  unwearied 
adversary,  and  to  whose  grace  I  also  owe  that  precious  faith 
which  assures  me  that  there  is  a  reward  for  those  who  continue 
in  a  patient  course  of  well  doing,  and  in  the  fulfilment  of  the 
will  of  Him  whom  I  venture  to  call  my  Redeemer. 

O  Thou  who  inhabitest  eternity  !  it  has  pleased  Thee  in 
the  unerring  counsel  of  Thy  holy  will  to  permit  the  dispensa 
tions  of  Thy  Fatherly  love,  to  give  me  some  bitter  cups  to 
drink,  some  heavy  waves  of  affliction  to  pass  over  my  head.  For 
these,  very  distressing  as  they  were  for  a  season,  my  spirit  can 
now  reverently  thank  Thee  ;  from  the  humble  belief  they  have 
been  measured  by  weaning  me  from  the  breast  of  this  world, 
and  more  and  more  leading  me  into  communion  with  the  spirit 
of  thy  beloved  Son  my  Saviour,  and  O  may  it  please  Thee  to 
carry  forward  the  work  of  righteousness  in  my  soul  so  that 
when  the  summons  to  depart  may  come,  I  may  be  so  purified 
as  to  be  fitted  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  Thy  dear  Son. — 
Amen. 


CHAPTER  III. 

1839. 

EDWARD  PEASE  begins  this  year  in  great  anxiety 
about  his  son  Edward,  who  was  now  in  his  thirty- 
eighth  year  and  unmarried.  There  are  many  little 
entries  about  the  invalid's  life,  of  his  being  "  wheeled 
on  a  couch  from  his  own  room  to  mine,"  etc. 

January  $th. — How  incorrect  is  the  opinion  that  a  state 
of  perfection  cannot  be  arrived  at ;  it  condemns  the  words  of 
our  blessed  Lord  "  Be  ye  perfect  "  as  useless,  and  it  denies 
His  ability  to  make  His  creatures  perfect,  and  impeaches 
His  willingness  to  effect  it.  Surely  the  Captain  of  Salvation 
has  both  the  will  and  the  power  to  perfect  His  soldiers. 

This  entry  is  interesting  as  showing  the  adherence 
to  one  of  the  most  prominent  principles  in  early 
Quakerism,  and  one  that  was  a  subject  of  endless 
controversy  between  them  and  other  sects  and 
Churches.  It  was  one  also  which  tended  to  the  ex 
clusive  and  severe  discipline  of  the  Society.  To  attain 
spiritual  perfection  it  became  in  the  opinion  of  Friends 
more  and  more  necessary  in  the  period  covered  by 
Edward  Pease's  life  to  keep  the  world  out  by  strong 
hedges.  But  in  many  very  old  Quaker  books  great 
stress  is  laid  on  the  doctrine  of  perfection.  In  the 
quaint  "  Memoir  of  John  Roberts  "  we  find  the  following 
dialogue  recorded  between  Parson  Careless  and  John 
Roberts. 


142  EDWARD  PEASE.  1839 

Parson. — The  Quakers  hold  that  Damnable  Doctrine  and 
Dangerous  Tenett  of  perfection  in  this  Life  and  so  do  the  Papists. 
If  you  go  about  to  deny  it,  John,  I  can  prove  you  hold  it. 

/.  R. — I  doubt  thou  are  now  going  about  to  belye  the 
Papists  behind  there  backs,  as  thou  hast,  heretofore,  done  us 
behind  our  backs  ;  for  by  what  I  have  understood  of  their 
principles  they  do  not  believe  in  a  State  of  freedom  from  Sin 
and  Exceptance  with  God  possable  on  this  side  of  the  Grave, 
and  therefore  they  have  imagened  to  themselves  a  place  of 
purgation  after  death.  But  whether  they  do  believe  such  a 
State  attainable  on  this  side  of  the  Grave  or  not  I  do. 

Parson. — An't  please  your  Ladyship  John  has  Confessd 
Enough  out  of  his  one  mouth.  For  that  is  a  damnable  Doc 
trine  and  Dangerous  Tennett. 

/.  R. — Then  I  would  ask  thee  one  question.  Dost  thou 
one  (own)  a  purgatory  ? 

Parson. — No  ! 

/.  R. — Then  the  Papists  are  in  this  case  wiser  than  thee, 
in  that  they  believe  the  Sayings  of  Christ  who  told  the  unbe 
lieving  Jews  that  if  they  dyed  in  there  sins,  whither  He  went 
they  could  not  come.  But  by  thy  discourse  thou  and  thy 
followers  must  needs  go  headlong  to  Destruction.  Since  thou 
dost  not  one  (own)  a  place  of  purgation  after  death,  nor  such 
a  preperation  for  heaven  as  is  absolutely  necessary  to  be  poss 
ible  in  this  Life :  the  Scriptures  thou  knowst,  tell  us  plainly  that, 
as  death  Leaves  us,  Judgment  finds  us.  If  a  tree  falls  towards 
the  North  or  South  where  it  falls  There  it  must  Lye.  Therefore 
since  no  unclean  thing  can  Enter  the  Kingdome  of  Heaven, 
pray  tell  this  poor  woman  whome  thou  hast  been  preaching  to 
for  thy  Belly  (and  suche  others  as  pin  there  faith  on  thy 
Sleeve)  whether  ever  or  never  She  may  Expect  to  be  freed  from 
her  sins,  and  made  fit  for  the  Kingdome  of  Heaven  ;  or  whither 
the  blind  must  Lead  the  blind  till  both  fall  into  the  ditch  ? 

Parson. — No,  John,  you  mistake  me. 

/.  R. — I  would  not  willingly  mistake  thee,  but  I  believe 
thou  hast  mistaken  Thy  self. 

Parson. — I  believe  that  God  Omnipotent  is  able  of  his  Great 
Mercy  to  forgive  a  man  or  woman  there  Sins  and  fitt  them  for 
heaven  a  Little  before  they  depart  this  Life. 


Act  72  JOHN  FORD'S  SCHOOL.  143 

jt  /^ — i  believe  the  same,  but  if  thou  wilt  limett  The  holy 
one  of  Israel,  how  Long  wilt  thou  give  the  Lord  leave  to  fitt 
a  man  or  woman  for  his  Gloryous  Kyngdome  before  they  Leave 
this  world. 

Parson. — It  may  be  an  hour  or  two. 

jr  # — My  faith  is  a  day  or  two,  as  well  as  an  hour  or  two. 

Parson. — I  believe  so  too. 

And  thus  he  Brought  him  from  a  day  or  two  to  a  week  or 
two,  then  to  a  month  or  two,  and  so  on  to  Seven  Years,  and 
the  parson  Confested  he  believed  so,  too. 

Sat.,  Jan.  19. — My  grandson,  Joseph  Whitwell  Pease, 
went  yesterday  to  John  Ford's  Boarding  School  at  York.* 

*  JOHN  FORD'S  SCHOOL. — There  is  in  a  book  called  "  Friends  of 
Half  a  Century,"  edited  by  W.  Robinson,  published  1891,  a  biography 
and  portrait  of  John  Ford.  Both  are  more  flattering  than  my 
father's  (the  late  Sir  Joseph  W.  Pease)  frequent  accounts  of  John 
Ford  and  his  school.  My  father  looked  back  to  all  connected  with 
his  schooldays  with  horror,  and  described  the  discipline  as  brutal  and 
unsympathetic,  the  thrashing  frequent,  the  food  execrable  and  in 
sufficient,  and  the  discomfort  of  life  intolerable.  He  enjoyed  relating 
how  he  and  others  at  times  were  able  to  defy  the  authority  of  the  head 
master  and  wreak  vengeance  on  the  author  of  their  sufferings.  One 
incident  I  remember,  was  "  when  an  Irish  boy  called  Davis  had,  whilst 
out  on  one  of  their  two-and-two  walks  along  the  roads  produced  a  pistol 
and  tried  to  fire  it,  but  it  missed  fire,  and  Davis,  who  stammered,  gazed 

down  the  barrels,  exclaiming,  'the thing  won't  geg-geg-go  off,'  and 

as  he  spoke  it  did  go  off,  and  blew  a  great  hole  through  the  peak  of  his 
cap.  On  returning  Davis  was  sent  for  by  Ford  to  get  his  '  licks,'  but 
arriving  in  the  head-master's  room  and  Ford  getting  ready  to  operate, 
he  produced  a  large  knife,  and  approaching  the  head-master,  said, 
'  Tut-tut-tut-Teacher,  if  thee  tut-tut-tut-touch  me  I  will  put  this  knife 
into  thee,'  which  so  alarmed  John  Ford  that  he  dared  not  set  to  work, 
and  presently  sent  Master  Davis  home  to  Ireland."  John  Ford  was  a 
Quaker,  born  in  1801,  and  was  educated  at  Banbury  and  Ackworth. 
He  went  to  a  boarding-school  when  six  years  and  four  months  old  ; 
he  left  school  at  fourteen,  and  was  apprenticed  to  Robert  Styles,  who 
kept  a  school  at  Rochester,  where  his  duties  kept  him  closely  and 
continuously  at  work  from  6  a.m.  to  often  eleven  or  twelve  at  night. 
His  biographer  says,  "  He  was  of  a  highly  sensitive,  nervous  tempera 
ment,  and  of  ceaseless  activity,  with  poor  digestive  powers  and  frequent 
headache.  It  is,  therefore,  no  matter  for  surprise  that  irritability  and 
much  hastiness  of  temper  were  his  conspicuous  failings,  and  in  measure 
marred  what  was  otherwise  the  good  work  of  an  energetic  teacher, 
who  loved  his  work  and  loved  his  boys,  too,  and  whose  boys  loved  him 
more  than  he  thought,  notwithstanding  his  untoward  temper."  He 
was,  in  spite  of  what  should  have  been  regarded  as  disqualifying  faults, 
appointed  to  take  up  the  new  "  Friends'  School,"  which  was  opened 
on  New  Year's  Day,  1829.  For  sixteen  years  the  school  was  in  Law- 


144  EDWARD  PEASE.  1839 

Mon.,  Feb.  n. — Paid  Abigail  Thorp  her  first  half 
year's  wage  of  £20. 

I  remember  Abigail  Thorpe  very  well.  She  was 
Edward  Pease's  housekeeper,  and  a  Friend,  and 
dressed  as  a  Friend.  In  the  early  sixties,  when  I  was  a 
small  boy,  my  mother  often  took  me  after  our  Sunday 
morning  visit  to  my  grandfather's  at  Southend  across 
the  road  to  call  on  the  kind  old  lady,  who  lived  out  her 
remaining  years  in  a  nice  little  house.  Although 
an  ex-housekeeper,  I  could  not  distinguish  her  from 
any  other  old  Quaker  lady  :  her  dress,  her  speech, 
the  neat  simplicity  of  her  home  was  identical  with 
those  who  in  any  other  community  would  have  been 
outwardly,  at  least,  her  superiors. 

The  same  day  he  also  remarks  : 

Often  tried  from  the  encreased  publicity  of  the  graveyard 
by  the  numerous  workmen  employed  about  the  Meeting-house 
improvements  and  being  overlookd  I  am  deprived  of  those 
solacing  moments  which  innumerable  times  have  been  enjoyed 
by  me  in  leaning  over  the  Grave  of  her  who  to  me  was  precious 
beyond  all  earthly  possessions  or  life  itself,  but  Blessed  are  the 
dead  who  died  in  the  Lord — here  is  that  blessing. — Amen. 

Tues.,  Feb.  19. — My  property  being  apparently  on  the 
increase,  and  already  far  exceeding  all  that  ever  I  could  ask 
or  think,  my  earnest  desire  is  that  I  may  become  less  attached 


rence  Street,  outside  Walmgate  Bar,  a  poor  quarter  of  the  Old  City. 
In  1845  it  was  removed  to  better  premises  in  Bootham,  where  it  is  still 
carried  on.  John  Ford  married  in  1837  Rachel  Robson,  of  Darlington. 
In  1859  he  became  a  Minister  ;  he  retired  from  the  school  in  1866,  and 
died  in  1875.  If  anY  one  wil1  read  the  memorials  of  John  Ford,  edited 
by  Silvanus  Thompson,  in  1877,  he  must  feel  that  there  was  another 
John  Ford,  a  very  different  one  to  the  man  who  appeared  as  a  tyrant 
to  my  father.  It  is  interesting  to  record  that  in  1899  my  father  was 
invited  to  lay  the  foundation  stone  of  the  new  buildings  at  Bootham. 
He  performed  this  ceremony  in  January,  1900. 


Act.  72  HOSPITALITY.  145 

to  it,  and  more  and  more  anxious  to  be  ready  to  distribute 
in  proper  channels,  ever  ready  to  listen  and  obey  the  pointing 
of  the  finger  of  the  adorable  Donor. 

Thurs.,  Feb.  28. — Attended  the  week-day  meeting,  it 
was  encouraging  to  see  Friends  so  well  out — to  me  it  was  a 
low  season — Can  these  dry  bones  live  ?  My  beloved  daughter 
Emma*  this  day  confined  of  her  ninth  child,  a  Son. 

Sat.,  Mar.  2. — Went  home  at  noon ;  had  seven  of  my  dear 
Joseph's  children  and  himself  to  dine.  I  looked  round  with 
gratitude  in  the  enjoyment  of  having  them — dear  Henry, 
who  had  returned  from  Belmont  the  day  before,  and  Richard 
Fry  were  of  the  company. 

My  father  (J.  W.  Pease)  told  me  that  as  long 
as  his  grandfather  lived,  he  constantly  had  some  of 
them  to  dine  with  him.  That  when  he,  my  father, 
had  given  up  his  Quaker  coat  except  for  evening  dress, 
he  always  wore  it  when  he  went  to  his  grandfather's 
to  dine.  The  dinner-hour  was  2.30,  and  Edward 
Pease,  although  living  in  great  and  studied  simplic 
ity  as  regarded  his  home,  kept  a  most  excellent 
table,  and  that  everything  provided  in  the  way  of 
linen,  china,  silver,  tankards  and  glass  was  of  the  best. 
That  beer  was  always  provided,  and  after  the  cloth 
was  drawn,  heavy  cut-glass  decanters  of  port,  Lisbon, 
Madeira  and  Bucellas  wines  were  placed  on  the  mahog 
any  with  dessert,  and  that  the  fruit  from  his  garden 
and  greenhouse  was  famed,  especially  his  plums,  apricots 
and  apples,  in  the  cultivation  of  which  the  old  gentle 
man  took  a  great  delight  and  personal  interest.  I 
still  have  some  of  the  old  cut-glass  decanters  and  the 
silver  wine  labels  that  hung  round  their  necks,  engraved 
11  Port,"  "  Lisbon,"  "  Madeira,"  "  British,"  "  Bucellas," 

*  "  Emma"  is  Mrs.  Joseph  Pease,  the  son  is  Gurney Pease,  who 
married  in  1863,  Katherine,  third  daughter  of  John  Jowitt  Wilson  ; 
he  died  loth  June,  1872,  aet.  33,  leaving  three  sons  and  two 
daughters. 

12 


146  EDWARD  PEASE.  1839 

"  Sherry,"  "  Whiskey,"  "  Rum,"    "  Gin,"  "  Brandy," 
etc. 

Mon.,  Mar.  4. — Became  dry,  empty  and  poor  by  spending 
too  much  time  (ought  I  to  spend  any  ?)  in  reading  narratives, 
travels,  anecdotes  and  news. — Endeavoured  in  the  evening 
to  turn  inward,  a  little  sweetness  was  afforded,  in  meditating 
on  the  attributes  of  the  Most  High  as  the  Author  of  Mercy, 
the  God  of  Love,  and  the  God  of  the  Spirits  of  all  Flesh, 
and,  oh,  awakening  and  solemn  thought,  the  God  to  whom  all 
flesh  must  come  and  who  judgeth  according  to  every  man's 
work. 

Tues.,  Mar.  5. — Solicited  yesterday  to  subscribe  £500  in 
unison  with  many  Friends  for  the  purchase  of  land  in  Jamaica 
whereon  to  locate  the  negro  population  now  free.  I  declined 
to  subscribe,  my  observation  and  experience  affording  me 
no  encouragment  to  trust  that  peace,  harmony,  and  utility 
would  be  likely  to  follow  this  joint-stock  trading  in  a  satisfac 
tory  way.  The  comfort  of  the  negroes  and  some  profit  were 
contemplated — I  hope  some  of  the  former  will  result — profit 
from  sales  to  negroes  ! 

Sun.,  Mar.  10. — After  remarking  on  some  prayer  that 
had  been  offered  in  meeting,  he  writes  :  "It  does  not  appear 
to  me  that  the  use  of  '  Thou  knowest  O  Lord '  as  informing 
Him  that  we  were  acquainted  in  some  degree  with  His 
prescience  is  as  proper  or  deferentially  ascribing  His 
attributes  as  to  acknowledge  '  it  is  known  unto  Thee.' " 

Tues.,  Mar.  19. — My  dear  Edward's  languid  looks 
affect  me.  He  walked  down  as  far  as  the  hot-house,  found  the 
ascent  back  rather  trying.  Advised  a  dear  Stockton  Friend  to 
take  no  share  or  interest  in  a  new  bottle  house  to  be  erected. 

Thurs.,  April  4. — Anxious  and  depressed.  Another  sur 
gical  operation  being  deemed  needful  in  my  dear  Edward's 
case,  Dr.  Baird  of  Newcastle  came  to  perform  it.  His  view 
of  the  case  is  on  the  whole  discouraging — the  pain  was  borne 
with  exemplary  patience ;  this  case  and  my  dear  daughter 
Anna  (his  son  Henry's  wife)  are  sources  of  deep  anxiety. 


Act.  72  CHURCH  RATES.  147 

Was  informed  of  the  very  sudden  decease  of  Barbara  Palmer 
who  appeared  well  at  meeting  this  forenoon — a  peaceable 
Friend,  a  quiet-spirited  widow. 

Fri.,  April  5. — The  increase  of  my  stewardship  by  the  re 
mittance  of  £1,000  from  the  Forth  Street  concern  [Stephenson's 
Engineering  Works,  Newcastle]  should  tend  to  rivet  on  me 
forcibly  the  necessity  of  enlarged  benevolence ;  may  an  eye 
to  see  and  a  heart  willing  to  distribute  be  given  me  as  my 
gracious  Lord  commits  more  to  my  charge. 

Wed.,  April  10. — A  remarkable  sweet  covering  was  over 
many  of  our  spirits  as  we  stood  round  the  grave  of  Barbara 
Palmer.  In  reverence  I  accepted  it  as  an  evidence  that  she 
was  entered  in  the  rest  of  her  Saviour,  who  she  often  said  was 
her  only  hope.  This  pious  female  was  laid  very  near  where 
my  greatest  earthly  blessing  lays  reposed  ;  how  often  have 
my  feet  visited  that  spot  and  my  spirit  been  refreshed  there. 

Mon.,  April  29. — Accompanied  a  few  Friends,  who  had  re 
ceived  summonses  to  pay  Church  Rates,  in  their  attendance 
on  the  magistrates,  and  used  some  endeavors  to  prove  that 
the  words  all  chapels  included  those  of  dissenters  and  that 
notices  of  the  rate  according  to  the  words  of  the  Act  were 
required  to  be  placed  on  the  doors  of  such  chapels  ;  this  was 
over-ruled,  as  well  as  other  reasons  advanced,  five  justices  being 
present. 

In  May  he  attends  the  Yearly  Meeting  in  London, 
travelling  part  of  the  way  thither  in  "  the  agreeable 
company  of  the  two  Mary  Leckies  and  J.  Hadwen  " 
as  far  as  Belmont.  On  Monday,  20th  May,  he  attends 
a  meeting  of  Ministers  and  Elders,  and  says  that  the 
"  afternoon  was  much  occupied  in  considering  the 
propriety  of  sending  down  a  minute  of  counsel,  chiefly 
on  the  subject  of  plainness  of  speech."  The  following 
day  he  again  attends,  "  when  certificates  granted  to 
E.  Robson  and  Daniel  Wheeler  to  visit  America  were 
read;  also  that  for  Elizabeth  Fry  to  visit  France. 


148  EDWARD  PEASE.  1839 

A  female,  whilst  long  on  the  bended  knee, 
so  very  frequently  used  the  word  Grant ;  my  mind 
was  tried.  Supplication  addressed  to  the  Highest 
seems  more  becoming  couched  terms  of  lowliness  and 
the  most  humble  intercession  in  which  petition  can  be 
couched." 

In  June  he  is  much  in  his  son's  sick  room. 
On  June  4th  "  Dr.  Wishart  informed  dear  Edward  he 
could  give  but  very  little  hope  of  his  recovery.  The 
beloved  invalid  then  with  great  calmness  remarked  he 
had  for  some  time  had  similar  apprehensions,  and 
added,  '  Then  it  is  only  alleviations  that  are  in  thy 
power/  .  .  .  When  the  Doctor  informed  us 
of  this  conversation,  it  covered  the  minds  of 
my  dear  sons  and  daughters  and  my  own  with 
so  .great  sadness  that  it  appeared  to  seal  expres 
sion  for  some  time." 

On    June    5th : 

"  The  information  of  last  evening  had  such  an  impression 
on  him  that,  inquiring  for  his  pocket  book,  etc.,  in  the 
morning,  he  calmly  introduced  the  state  of  his  affairs 
to  dear  John's  notice,  explaining  everything  he  thought 
needed  to  be  adverted  to.  On  my  being  alone  with  him  he 
expressed  his  tender  love  and  affection  for  me,  and  said  there 
was  no  one  so  suitable  to  confer  with  as  to  the  settlement 
of  his  affairs.  I  took  down  his  wishes  and  the  notes  were 
given  to  the  attorney.  In  the  evening,  with  tears  and  much 
tenderness,  he  expressed  his  love  for  his  brother  John,  who  was 
with  him,  and  his  desire  that  the  best  and  richest  of  blessings 
might  be  showered  down  on  him  and  his  precious  family." 

Fri.,  June  7. — Not  quite  so  low  a  day  as  yesterday,  being 
able  to  enter  into  conversation,  desired  a  fair  copy  of  his  will 
might  be  read  over  to  him,  which  being  quite  agreeable  to  him 
he  signed  it.  He  was  very  affectionate  and  endearing  to  me 
in  the  course  of  the  afternoon  ;  placing  his  arm  round  my  neck 
and  pressing  me  to  him,  he  remarked  what  a  poor  companion 
he  had  been  to  me  and  how  unable  he  always  felt  to  make  due 


Aet.  72  FATHER  AND  SON.  149 

return  for  my  Love  and  affectionate  care  of  him,  that  possibly 
we  might  not  be  so  long  separated  but  go  to  join  his  precious 
mother  that  we  might  be  all  united  again.  I  reverently  thank 
my  Lord  for  the  sweet  and  peaceful  overshadowing  which 
generally  prevailed  in  the  sick  chamber  of  this  beloved  son. 

A  few  more  days  record  expressions  of  affectionate 
solicitude,  and  hopes  that  his  father  should  be  cared 
for,  of  his  unworthiness  but  trust.  On  one  evening 
his  father  read  to  him  the  third  chapter  of  Malachi 
and  added  a  few  words  :  "  The  desire  and  trust  that 
we  were  and  might  be  more  and  more  of  that  number 
who,  written  in  the  book  of  remembrance,  would  be 
the  Lord's  in  the  day  he  makes  up  his  Jewels."  The 
dying  son  sends  many  messages  to  his  brothers.  On 
the  nth  he  had  "  a  hard  struggle  in  the  night  with 
his  cough,  and  some  sickness,  but  he  was  most  affec 
tionately  sweet  and  composed,  and  expressed  his 
love  for  his  Uncle  and  Cousin  Coates  in  particular, 
and  for  all  his  cousins.  Spoke  of  feelings  of  tenderness, 
sympathy  and  affection  of  his  Cousin  Jse.  Lloyd, 
and  wished  £50  might  be  sent  to  him  as  a  token  of 
remembrance  and  regard." 

Wed.,  June  12 — My  precious  son  still  continues.  At  times 
he  entered  into  sweet,  interested  converse ;  his  mind  is 
centerd  in  peaceful  trust  in  the  mercy  of  his  Redeemer,  and 
and  in  his  chamber  there  is  that  witnessed  which  feels  as  a 
confirmation  that  a  prepared  spirit  is  ere  long  to  ascend  to 
Him  who  gave  it.  My  heart  in  all  its  tenderness  of  feeling 
is  enabled  to  give  thanks  for  that  life  and  immortality  which 
is  granted  by  the  coming  and  offering  of  our  Blessed  Lord. 

He  dictated  some  kind  messages  to  his  cousins  John 
and  Kath.  Backhouse,  encouraging  in  their  tendency 
and  consistent  with  his  standing  as  an  elder  in  the 
Church. 

And  so  the  entries  follow  each  day,  till 

Mon.,  June  17. — This    day  in  his    thirty-ninth   year  my 


150  EDWARD  PEASE.  1839 

beloved  Edward's  earthly  probation  sweetly,  peacefully 
closd.  His  life  might  be  said  to  be  one  of  unspotted 
innocency  and  integrity :  uprightness  and  a  tender  conscience 
were  conspicuous  in  all  his  conduct,  and  in  all  his  trans 
actions  he  was  remarkable  in  his  care  to  put  the  most 
charitable  construction  on  the  words  and  doings  of  all :  his 
watchfulness  and  piety  were  exemplary;  he  was  dearly 
beloved  by  us  all,  for  he  was  worthy  .  .  . 

Tues.,  June  18, — Thankful  for  the  feeling  granted  me  in 
sitting  by  the  remains  of  my  dear  son.  My  spirit  forcibly  was 
impressed  with  a  sense  of  the  Blessedness  of  them  that  die  in 
the  Lord — the  fluctuations  oi  life,  its  cares,  its  toils,  its  temp 
tations  and  its  intricacies  are  forever  exchanged  for  a  glorious 
rest !  What  is  there  worthy  of  pursuit  compared  with  such 
blessedness. 

Wed.,  June  19. — Oh  Thou  great  and  Glorious  Being  who 
twice  condescended  to  speak  in  words  as  intelligible  to  the  ear 
of  my  mind  six  months  ago  as  ever  I  heard  with  my  outward 
Ear  that  my  dear  son  would  not  recover,  be  pleased,  I  humbly 
implore  Thee,  to  instruct  me  in  the  way  that  I  should  go.  .  . 
Known  unto  thee,  O  God,  are  all  the  alienations,  all  the  wan 
derings  and  the  too  often  forgetfulness  of  Thee,  be  pleased  to 
look  on  me  in  tender  mercy, — follow  me  with  Love — correct 
me  in  mercy  until  I  am  meet  for  an  inheritance  with  thy  Saints. 

On  the  2ist  he  sits  by  the  coffin  some  time,  and 
records  his  feelings.  On  the  22nd  he  receives  his 
"  Aunt  Bragg  and  Cousins  J.  and  R.  Priestman," 
and  rejoices  to  have  "  all  my  most  dear  sons  and 
daughters  with  me  (except  dear  Anna).  Henry  came, 
leaving  his  Anna  very  languid  and  reduced  at  Tunbridge 
Wells." 

Sun.,  June  23. — A  solemn  day  to  me.  The  interment 
of  my  dearly  beloved,  my  tenderly  affectionate  son.  A 
very  large  attendance  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  place  and 
Friends  from  Stockton  proved  the  estimation  in  which  his 
virtuous  Character  was  held.  As  his  unoffending  life  had  been 
one  of  great  quietude  and  peace,  so  in  dying  and  at  the  end 


Aet.  72  JOSEPH  PEASE,  M.P.  151 

all  was  peace,  in  a  large  and  Solemn  meeting.  One  removal 
more  and  then  my  house  will  be  desolate  of  all  its  family 
occupants. 

Tues.,  July  9. — -Much  engaged  with  my  hay  in  trouble 
some  wet  weather.  Much  unsettlement  and  rioting  at 
Birmingham,  excited  by  those  called  Chartists,  who  want  a 
charter  of  equal  rights  and  suffrages  in  Parliament,  etc. 
Unsettlement  has  been  no  uncommon  occurrence  amongst 
the  inhabitants  of  this  favord  isle  and  from  it  some  of  our 
best  and  most  tolerant  principles  and  privileges  have  sprung. 
Though  unpleasant  and  sometimes  attended  with  distressing 
circumstances,  I  neither  fear  their  operations  nor  dread  their 
ultimate  effects  ;  to  such  I  think  we  must  look  for  an  improve 
ment  in  the  Ecclesiastical  state. 

Wed.,  July  10. — Joseph  [his  son,  M.P.  for  South 
Durham]  arrived  at  home  from  attending  Parliament.  The 
efforts  of  the  Liberal  members  are  rendered  so  abortive  by 
the  power  of  the  Tories  in  the  House  of  Peers  that  hardly  any 
service  is  more  discouraging  than  the  spending  of  time  in 
endeavouring  to  frame  good  laws,  conscious  at  the  time  they 
will  not  be  suffered  to  pass.  May  it  please  Omnipotence  so  to 
overrule  the  counsels  of  men  that  all  they  do  may  have  a 
tendency  to  introduce  harmony,  happiness  and  righteousness 
into  the  kingdoms  of  men. 

Fri.,  July  12. — Proceeded  in  the  consideration  and 
arrangement  in  my  outward  affairs  in  preparation  for  my  will, 
which  I  am  anxious  should  be  clear,  comprehensive  and  just, 
and  to  meet  my  view  of  justice  I  shall  leave  to  my  three  sons 
a  little  more  than  to  my  precious  daughters.  My  Love  for 
all  my  children  is  equal  but  my  Sons  in  the  prosecution  of  their 
business  have  not  been  adequately  remunerated  by  it,  whilst 
in  pursuing  it  they  have  enhanced  my  profit  and  interest  more 
than  their  own  by  the  occupation  of  the  Mills,  etc.  etc. 

Fri.,  July  26. — Finished  again  the  notes  needful  for  the 
republishing  of  my  will.  This  engagement  which  has  become 
needful  by  that  dispensation  which  Allwise  Goodness  has  seen 
meet  to  allot  me  ...  I  conclude  may  never  become 


152  EDWARD  PEASE.  1839 

needful  for  me  again  to  engage  with.  My  hope  and  my  prayer 
is,  my  dear  descendants  may  maintain  a  pious  care  to  use  all 
the  bounty  of  the  Lord  as  not  abusing  it,  to  have  a  tender 
watchful  care  to  alleviate  the  wants  of  those  who  are  tried  by 
the  narrowness  of  their  circumstances,  and  who  once  might 
have  expected  greater  plenty,  and  to  do  good  unto  all, 
especial  the  household  of  faith. 

Sun.,  July  28. — Received  the  account  of  the  decease  of  my 
Beloved  daughter-in-Law,  Anna,  who  died  at  St.  Leonards  on 
the  morning  of  sixth-day  last,  being  the  26th  Inst.  Very  sweet 
is  the  remembrance  of  this  amiable-minded  daughter — her  end 
was  peaceful,  her  resignation  and  patience  in  a  long,  wasting 
illness  proved  a  fine  disposition  and  well  regulated  mind.  My 
dear  Son,  after  a  very  endearing  union  of  four  years,  becomes  a 
Widower  at  the  age  of  thirty-two  with  one  only  Son. 

Mon.,  July  29. — At  St.  Helen's  Auckland  an  accident  by 
fire  damp  having  occurd  in  the  Coal  Mine  there,  in  which  I 
was  interested,  and  seven  (men  and  boys)  being  so  severely 
burnt  that  four  have  since  died,  it  was  my  Concern  that  by 
calling  in  additional  medical  aid  and  every  means  the  remain 
ing  three  might  be  most  kindly  taken  care  of,  it  was  a  satis 
faction  to  learn  they  were  in  a  fair  away  to  recovery,  and 
sundry  adaptations  to  render  the  Mine  safe  were  directed  to 
be  immediately  carried  into  effect. 

On  Tuesday,  soth  July,  he  leaves  home  to  attend 
the  funeral  of  Mrs.  Henry  Pease,  his  daughter-in-law, 
at  Uxbridge,  and  on  his  way  calls  at  Doncaster  "  on 
my  worthy  ancient  friend,  Richard  Cockin*  and  his 
wife."  The  following  day,  still  travelling,  he  records, 
"  I  have  never  seen  the  country,  at  least  as  far  as 
Grantham,  more  inundated,  or  the  crops  .... 
more  pressed  down  and  laid  flat.  This  is  a  critical 
period — exceedingly  small  is  the  supply  of  grain  left 
in  the  kingdom,"  On  Friday,  2nd  August,  he  attends 
the  funeral  of  his  daughter-in-law,  and  soliloquises 

*  Richard  Cockin,  born  1753,  died  1845. 


Aet.  72        ''RELIGIOUS  OPPORTUNITIES."  153 

on  the  passing  of  beauty  and  the  vicissitudes  of  life, 
and  quotes  : — 

"  So  flourishes  and  fades  majestic  man, 
Fair  is  the  bud  his  vernal  morn  brings  forth 
And  fostering  gales  the  nursling  fan." 

Tues.,  Aug.  6. — Travelling  homeward  in  the  mail,  in 
company  devoid  of  much  interest,  except  that  of  my 
downcast  son. 

The  next  day  he  gets  home  and  "found  cousin  T. 
Richardson  here  and  also  my  dear  son  Joseph;  they 
had  been  caring  about  earthly  things." 

On  the  loth  August  he  starts  with  his  son  John 
to  visit  Friends,  and  each  day  records  his  estimate 
of  the  results  or  incidents  arising  out  of  these  "  oppor 
tunities,"  as  Quakers  called  them.  Ordinary,  special 
and  public  meetings  are  attended,  at  which  John 
preaches,  and  though  I  dare  not  run  the  risk  of  trying 
the  reader  more  than  I  do  already  with  these  entries, 
I  may  mention  that  from  the  number  of  places  visited, 
the  careful  estimate  of  attenders,  and  the  number 
of  names  that  appear,  as  well  as  from  little  sketches 
of  persons  and  characters,  they  remain  what  would 
be  to  some,  an  interesting  record  of  the  state  of  the 
Society  in  many  parts  of  England.  The  meetings 
and  families  at  the  following  places,  among  others, 
come  under  review  in  his  journey  :  Stockton,  Norton, 
Bishop  Auckland,  Greta  Bridge,  Cotherston,  Darley, 
Rawdon,  Barnsley  (lodged  at  Jervas  Brady's,  most 
hospitably  entertained),  Sheffield,  Chesterfield,  Mans 
field,  Nottingham,  Castle  Donington  (lodged  at  Bake- 
well  Ellis's),  Leicester  (lodged  at  Widow  Burgess', 
dined  at  Thos.  Burgess',  Wigstone  Grange),  Northamp 
ton  (lodged  at  Wm.  Collins'),  Olney  (only  "one  Friend, 
Sheppard  Bell,  lodged  there,  was  interested  here  in 


154  EDWARD  PEASE.  1839 

going  into  the  summer-house,  a  poor  mean  place, 
where  Cowper  wrote  his  poem,  '  The  Task  '  "),  Newport 
Pagnall,  Buckingham,  Banbury  (lodged  at  Jos.  A. 
Gillet's),  Adderbury,  Sibford,  Chipping  Norton,  Bur- 
ford,  Witney,  Farringdon  (lodged  at  Jane  Reynold's), 
Charlbury  (at  Nicholas  Albright's,  who  "  expresses  a 
few  words  in  meeting.  I  apprehend  his  borders  in 
that  way  may  be  enlarged  "),  Newbury  ("  Jno.  Albright 
and  Samuel  Beezeley  with  us,  lodged  at  Samuel 
Whiting's  "...  Geo.  Payne,  "  a  Friend,  was 
Mayor  of  the  place,  I  greatly  fear  to  his  maring  in 
every  sense  "),  Warborough  (lodged  at  Widow  Green's) 
Maidenhead  and  Henley  (lodged  at  Jno.  Fell's), 
Reading,  Thame  ("  five  individuals  keep  up  a  meeting 
after  the  manner  of  Friends  ...  in  very  low 
circumstances,  and  meet  in  a  poor  cottage  near  Hadden- 
ham  "),  Wycombe  (lodged  at  Thos.  Edmond's,  "  John 
Wilkinson*  has  been  painfully  scattering  here  "), 
Amersham  ("  our  Religious  Society  here  is  nearly 
extinct,  where  but  a  few  years  ago  thirteen  families 
resided  "  ;  accounts  for  it  by  death,  removal,  and 
"  the  baneful  influence  of  John  Wilkinson  "),  Ches- 
ham  (about  six  families  here),  Leighton  Buzzard 
("  lodged  at  John  Grant's,  his  wife,  the  daughter  of 
Mary  Brooks,  who  wrote  on  Silent  Waiting.  J.  G. 
is  eighty-seven  years  of  age "),  Aspley  (at  W.  T. 
How's),  Berkhampstead  (at  Thos.  Squire's),  Derby, 
Leeds,  and  thence  home. 

How  solitary  does  it  feel  to  have  no  more  the  endearing 
reception  which  the  tenderest  heart  .  .  .  could  give 

•John  Wilkinson  was  an  "Evangelical."  In  1835  he  preached 
an  evangelical  sermon  in  Tottenham  Meeting  ;  when  he  sat  down, 
Thomas  Shillitoe  rose  and,  with  great  solemnity,  said  "  I  hope  that 
nothing  I  shall  ever  hear,  nothing  that  I  shall  ever  read  will  shake  me 
from  the  foundation  on  which  our  early  friends  built  the  Truth  as 
revealed  by  the  light  of  Christ  within."  After  meeting  he  said  to 
John  Wilkinson — "  Why,  John  Wilkinson,  thou  wouldst  make  us  mere 
Bible  Christians."  John  Wilkinson  resigned  his  membership  in  1836. 


Aet.  72      THE  OXFORD  MOVEMENT.       155 

.  .  .  how  ardent  have  been  my  desires  to  rejoin  thee  my 
dearest  in  Heaven  with  those  precious  treasures,  Mary,  Isaac 
and  Edward. 

Thus  the  lonely  old  man  gets  to  his  house  on  the 
28th  September.  Some  of  his  remarks  during  this 
journey  call  up  passing  events  such  as  the  Chartist 
agitation,  or  the  Oxford  Movement.  He  writes  on 
one  day: 

"  There  appears  to  be  a  curious  coincidence  and  re 
semblance  between  the  Oxford  party  in  the  Church  of 
England  declaring  against  early  reformers,  and  going  back 
to  popery  and  the  dissentients  in  our  own  Society  abusing 
early  Friends  and  going  back  to  the  Church  Establishment. 
Such  is  the  mutableness  of  everything  which  is  apprehended  to 
be  divine,  but  is  not  founded  on  Christ." 

On  the  i6th  October  he  completes  his  will,  and 
reverts  again  to  his  having  given  more  to  his  sons  than 
daughters,  and  goes  on  : — 

"  I  would  observe  they  entered  on  a  business  that  had  been 
beneficial  to  me,  but  has  never  yet  rewarded  their  toil,  yet 
their  continuance  of  it  and  their  great  efforts  to  advance  the 
family  interest  in  various  ways  have  tended  through  divine 
permission  to  be  blessed,  and  remuneration  from  the  common 
stock  is  justly  due." 

To  the  end  of  his  life  my  father,  Edward  Pease's 
grandson,  never  could  be  dispossessed  of  the  old-fash 
ioned  notion  of  the  family's  common  stock  and  common 
interest  :  his  labour,  and  as  long  as  he  had  it,  his 
wealth,  was  at  the  disposal  of  his  family. 

November  finds  him  again  visiting  Friends  at  Bristol, 
Coalbrookdale  (at  the  Darby's),  Hereford,  and  stay 
ing  with  his  dear  son  and  daughter  Fry,  in  Berkley 
Square  (Bristol). 

Sat.,  Nov.  2. — "  Passed  the  evening  agreeably  at  Sarah 
Allan's — my  dear  son  and  daughter  Fry,  D.  Prior  Hack,  his 


156  EDWARD  PEASE.  1836 

wife,  and  Gawen  Ball — the  latter  recalled  an  account  he  had 
from  Thomas  Shillitoe  of  a  Friend,  Mercy  Bell,having  a  religious 
opportunity  in  the  House  of  Lords." 

Nov.,  Wed.  6. — From  Bristol  to  Neath  to  visit  my  dear 
aged  friend,  Anna  Price,  in  her  eightieth  year,  and  her  agree 
able  family,  Christiana,  Junia  and  Joseph  T.  Price.  Being  on 
the  coach  all  day  with  four  passengers,  the  review  of  it,  etc. — 

Here  he  takes  himself  to  task  for  being  too  frivolous 
in  his  conversation. 

Fri.,  Nov.  22. — Confirmed  in  the  belief  that  whether  I  live 
to  see  it  or  not,  the  present  divisions  which  exist  in  all  old 
religious  bodies  and  the  numerous  new  ones  which  are  springing 
up,  a  new  and  better  condition  of  Christianity  will  arise  and 
those  principles  and  testimonies  which  faithful  Friends  now 
bear  will  become  fully  recognised  and  adopted. 

Fri.,  Nov.  29. — Heard  much  of  the  proceedings  of  those 
termed  Plymouth  Brethren,  their  opinions  Calvinistic,  their 
low  estimation  of  all  Christians  outside  their  own  pale,  their 
various  views  inconsistent  with  the  doctrines  of  the  ever- 
blessed  Gospel  induced  me  to  believe  their  foundation  is  not 
safe  on  Christ  the  Rock,  but  must  be  broken  up. 

He  goes  on  in  December  from  Bristol  to  Plymouth, 
Exeter,  Stamford  Hill  ;  then  to  Saffron  Walden, 
where  he  says  he  is  "  very  deeply  tried  "  by  the  "  ac 
count  from  home  of  the  sad  loss  "  his  sons  have  sus 
tained  by  carrying  on  the  old  family  business  of  worsted 
spinning,  and  he  complains  of  being  unable  to  sleep 
in  thinking  of  the  poor  without  employment,  and  the 
inconvenience  to  his  family  that  may  result.  One  day 
he  writes,  "  Some  feeling  of  restraint  from  reading 
narratives,  though  true,  only  to  entertain  time  : 
faculties  and  grace  given  for  no  such  purposes." 

Christmas-time  finds  him  at  Norwich. 

Fri.,  Dec.  27. — The  accounts  from  my  Irish  correspondent 
of  the  ranting  spirit  of  two  women  travelling  amongst  them 


Act.  72  THE  YEAR  IN  REVIEW.  157 

and  disturbing  their  meetings  in  the  north  and  the  state  of 
Friends  generally  in  Ireland  afflicts  my  spirit. 

On  the  last  day  of  the  year  he  reviews  his  spiritual 
state,  thanks  Heaven  for  his  own  uninterrupted  health, 
remembers  the  dead,  and  in  temporal  matters  takes  a 
gloomy  prospect  of  the  coming  year. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

1840. 

Wed.,  Jan.  i. — I  commence  this  remembrancer  in  the 
seventy-third  year  of  my  age  and  under  a  consciousness  of  the 
great  probability  I  may  ere  the  close  of  the  year  have  passed 
from  this  stage  of  existence.  .  .  . 

The  following  passage,  January  loth,  is  somewhat 
enigmatical,  but  I  have  heard  my  father  say  that 
there  was  a  considerable  coolness  at  one  time  between 
the  Peases  of  Feethams  and  the  Southend  and  North- 
gate  houses,  arising  apparently  out  of  some  dispute 
about  land  or  other  property.  The  brother  here  is 
Joseph  Pease  (born  1772),  who  was  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  Peace  Society,  and  an  active  worker  in  several 
practical  branches  of  philanthropy  (vide  J.  H.  Bell's 
biographical  sketch,  with  portraits,  of  Joseph  Pease  in 
a  book  called  "  British  Folks  and  British  India  ").  He 
married  first  Elizabeth  Beaumont,  in  1801,  from  which 
marriage  the  Peases  of  North  Lodge,  Mowden, 
Pendower,  Otterburn  Tower,  etc.,  are  descended. 
His  first  wife  died  in  1824.  He  married  again  in  1831, 
Anna  Bradshaw  (a  descendant  of  the  Regicide  Brad- 
shaw)  ;  she  died  without  issue  in  1856,  having  survived 
her  husband  ten  years.  The  son  mentioned  by 
Edward  Pease  is  John  Beaumont  Pease  (born  1803, 
died  1873),  who  married  Sarah  Fossick  in  1825  ; 

158 


Act.  73  A  CASE  OF  COZENING.  159 

she  died  1877.  I  remember  them  both  very  well. 
They  both  wore  orthodox  Friends'  dress,  and  observed 
plainness  of  speech. 

Here  is  the  passage  : — 

Isleed  of  patience  under  the  affectingly  trying  state  of  my 
poor  brother's  mind,  in  refusing  to  submit  to  the  just  rules  of 
the  Society.  What  will  be  the  end  of  this  resistance  to  such 
an  upright  settlement  between  my  sons  and  his  son,  whose 
conduct  is  most  amiable  ? 

A  generation  later  another  little  breeze  ruffled  the 
family  harmony.  It  is  commemorated  in  the  following 
lampoon,  written  by  Dr.  Bedoes  Peacock.  "John"  is 
John  Pease,  of  East  Mount,  Edward  Pease's  eldest  son, 
and  "Ephraim"  is  John  Beaumont  Pease,  of  North 
Lodge.  The  Church  of  St.  John's,  Bank  Top,  is  the  one 
referred  to.  I  do  not  vouch  for  the  accuracy  of  this 
version  of  the  origin  of  the  squabble. 

FRIENDLY  DOINGS. 

At  the  skirts  of  a  Town,  thus  begins  my  narration, 

Where  a  Railway  had  raised  up  a  new  population 

Of  smiths,  stokers,  plate-layers,  engine-men,  wary, 

And  poor  reckless  navvies,  ferocious  and  hairy ; 

Where  hucksters'  and  butchers'  and  beer  shops  abound, 

But  not  one  sacred  edifice  rose  from  the  ground. 

Some  well-meanng  Christians,  not  thinking  it  right 

That  folks  should  remain  in  so  godless  a  plight, 

Their  welfare  eternal  thus  left  in  the  lurch, 

Conceived  it  their  duty  to  build  them  a  Church. 

No  sooner  resolved,  than  with  pious  intent, 

To  begging,  in  all  sorts  of  manner  they  went  ; 

And  being  by  much  practice,  at  that  work  proficient, 

By  degrees  they  scraped  up  what  they  thought  was  sufficient. 

'Twere  well  if  they  first  had  made  sure  of  a  spot 

For  building  :    but  this  in  their  haste  they  forgot  ; 

And  it  happened,  unluckily,  for  the  church-makers, 

Only  two  sites  were  left,  which  belonged  to  two  Quakers, 

Two  cousins,  and  staunch  anti-churchites  were  these, 

In  family  virtues  as  like  as  two  PEASE, 

John  and  Ephraim  their  names ;   to  the  latter  they  hie, 

To  try  if  his  parcel  of  ground  they  could  buy.  , 

Now  Ephraim,  though  never  yet  known  to  be  slack 


160  EDWARD  PEASE.  1840 

At  driving  a  bargain,  was  taken  aback. 

He  remembered  how  he  and  his  father   for  years, 

In  resisting  church-rates,  set  the  town  by  the  ears  ; 

And  he  felt  that  he  could  not  see  clearly  his  way, 

As  to  what  on  the  subject  his  brethren  might  say  ; 

Though  his  ringers  were  itching  to  handle  the  cash, 

He  resolved  at  the  same  time  to  do  nothing  rash, 

So  he  hummed  and  he  hawed,  and  no  answer  could  make, 

'Till  he  with  his  friends  further  counsel  could  take. 

The  church  folks  departed.     No  sooner  they'd  gone, 

But  he  straight  bustled  off  to  his  dear  cousin  John. 

Quoth  Ephraim,  "  Friend  John,  dost  thou  think  it  were  well 

If  for  building  a  church  on,  my  land  I  should  sell  ;  " 

"  For  building  a  church  !  "  replies  John,  with  emotion, 

"  Thou  surely  canst  not  entertain  such  a  notion, 

Thou  hast  ground  fit  for  building  a  church,  I  admit, 

But  no  grounds  for  doing  so,  no  !   not  a  bit. 

A  church  !   why,  what  is  it  ?    a  tax-house,  a  rod 

Kept  on  purpose  for  scourging  the  people  of  God, 

As  thou  and  I  are  :   oh  !    banish  it  wholly, 

Such  a  thought  were  a  crime,  much  worse  than  a  folly. 

Thou  surely  hast  heard,  or  perchance  thou  hast  read 

Of  a  man  building  walls,  just  to  break  his  own  head. 

Now  for  Fox's  disciples  assistance  to  bring 

In  erecting  a  church,  is  it  not  the  same  thing  ?  " 

Poor  Ephraim' s  pretensions,  thus  laid  on  the  shelf, 

Honest  John,  as  he  wished,  had  the  play  to  himself  ; 

No  scruples  had  he  about  selling  his  earth, 

Provided  he  got  fully  six  times  its  worth, 

He  cared  not  a  straw,  about  his  roods  and  his  perches, 

Whether  meant  for  the  building  of  brothels  or  churches. 

His  end  he  attained,  and  thus  ends  my  narration, 

He  sold  all  his  land  at  his  own  valuation. 

REFLECTIONS. 

A  fine  case  of  cozening  I  a  beautiful  do  ! 

I  ne'er  knew  a  better  ;    good  reader,  did  you  ! 

'Twas  a  feat  e'en  for  Quakers  !   not  one  in  a  dozen 

Could  at  once  fleece  the  Church,  and  bamboozle  his  cousin  ! 

The  diary  contains  allusions  in  these  early  days 
of  1840  to  Edward  Pease's  anxiety  regarding  the 
pecuniary  affairs  of  his  sons.  On  the  iyth  January,  he 
writes  : — 

.  .  .  troubled  in  thought  about  outward  affairs. 
How  ardently  my  spirit  longs  that  all  my  descendants  to  the 


Act.  73  A  CASE  OF  INTEMPERANCE.  161 

latest  generation  of  them  may  be  contented  with  a  very 
limited  pursuit  after  wealth,  that  no  desires  for  aggrandisement 
may  allure  them  to  enter  into  any  new  extensive  projects, 
but  seeking  first  the  Kingdom  of  God,  and  His  righteousness, 
which  as  faithfully  sought  they  will  feel  measurably  estab- 
blished  in  them,  and  guided  by  its  authority  and  within  its 
bounds  they  will  be  safe. 

Fri.,  Jan.  31. — Received  this  morning  the  very  affecting 

intelligence  that expired    about   three    o'clock   in    an 

attack  of  delirium  tremens,  the  shocking  effect  of  intemper 
ance.  No  circumstance  so  lamentable  has  fallen  under  my 

notice  as  the  untimely    death   of    this    poor .     A   pious 

education,  with  pious  parents,  excellent  instructions  in  his 
profession  as  a  solicitor/  raised  in  esteem  through  his  good 
talents,  but  all  lost  by  intemperance.  Called  before  that 
judgment  seat  which  is  covered  with  mercy — may  its  breadth 
extend  to  his  spirit. 

I  insert  this  as  the  only  case  I  can  lay  my  hand 
on  of  any  one  related  to  any  generation  of  my  family 
who  was  given  to  intemperance.  It  is  not  to  record 
a  boast,  but  as  evidence  of  the  practical  worth  of  the 
piety  of  those  who  have  gone  before.  This  relation 
(not  a  Pease)  was  aged  thirty-five,  and  a  sister  of 
his,  aged  twenty-nine,  died  a  few  days  previously  ; 
they  were  interred  in  the  same  grave  side  by  side. 
He  attends  the  funeral,  and  remarks  that  though 
his  nephew  had  been  "  notoriously  intemperate  for 
three  years,  the  kindness  of  his  disposition  rendered 

him  much  beloved.  Dear (the  sister),  perhaps 

too  much  in  love  with  fading  vanities,  was  yet  very 
amiable." 

Here  is  a  curious  remark  . — 

"  W.  W.  is  decidedly  attached  to  the  Society  of  Friends, 
whilst  his  brother  John,  though  yet  a  member,  has  been 
sprinkled  by  Cousin  I.  Crewdson." 

*  Isaac  Crewdson,  a  minister,  was  the  author  of  "  The  Beacon," 
and  one  of  the  evangelical  section  who  separated  from  the  Society  of 

13 


162  EDWARD  PEASE.  1840. 

Mon.,  Feb.  10. — This  day  of  the  marriage  of  the  Queen.  It 
was  not  at  this  place,  as  was  the  case  in  many  others,  celebrated 
by  unwise  festivities :  some  treats  to  children  in  schools  on 
the  British  system  were  given.  .  .  . 

Fri.,  Feb.  21. — Was  at  Middlesbrough  this  afternoon, 
accompanied  by  my  beloved  sons,  John  and  Joseph  ;  to  the 
efforts  of  the  latter  this  busy  bustling  place  owes  very  much 
of  its  thriving  and  prosperity.  Whilst  I  in  no  inconsiderable 
degree  was  cheered  with  the  hope  that  the  comforts  of  3,000 
or  4,000  there  were  increased,  yet  the  constant  mantle  of  my 
spirit  .  .  .  was  that  the  spirit  of  this  world  might  not 
drink  up  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  which  was  in  him  [i.e.  Joseph.] 

Sat.,  Feb.  22. — Rather  discouraged  in  what  has  for  several 
years  been  my  practice — never  to  leave  my  room  in  the 
morning  nor  to  retire  to  rest  without  reading  some  portion  of 
holy  scripture  .  .  .  yet  in  the  hope  divine  compassion 
may  again  so  instruct  me  I  must  continue  my  practice. 

Sat.,  Feb.  29. — Heard  of  the  decease  of  a  worthy  and  dear 
friend  who  had  few  equals,  James  Cropper,  f  late  of  Liverpool ; 


Friends  and  became  Plymouth  Brethren  or  Low  Churchmen.  The 
controversy  preceding  this  secession  was  a  burning  one,  the  points  of 
difference  were  numerous.  I.  Crewdson  disparaged  the  Quaker  views 
of  universal  light,  and  the  immediate  teaching  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Joseph  John  Gurney,  who  in  some  respects  was  evangelical,  tried  to 
find  common  ground  for  the  two  parties,  but  on  these  particular  points 
adhered  firmly  to  the  Quaker  position. 

f  James  Cropper,  b.  1773,  married  Mary  Brindsdon  ;  his  son,  John 
Cropper,  born  at  Liverpool,  1797  (died  there  1874),  married  Ann  Wake- 
field  (b.  1797,  d.  1876),  of  Kendal.  They  had  four  sons  and  six  daughters. 
The  eldest  son  (i)  James  Cropper,  of  Eller  Green,  b.  1823,  was  M.P.  for 
Kendal  and  High  Sheriff,  Westmoreland,  1875  ;  he  married  his  cousin 
Fanny  Alison  Wakefield,  who  died  1868,  leaving  one  son,  Chas.  James 
Cropper,  of  Tolston  Hall,  Kendal,  born  1852,  who  married  1876  the  Hon. 
Edith  Emily  Holland,  a  daughter,  Frances  Anne,  who  married  the  Rev. 
J.W.  E.  Conybeare,  M.  A., and  another  daughter,  Mary  Wakefield  Cropper. 
The  second  son  (2)  John  Wakefield  Cropper,  married  a  daughter  of  Dr. 
Arnold,  of  Rugby  in  1853.  The  third  son  (3)',  Ed.  Wm.  Cropper,  married 
Frances  Wright  in  1861.  A  sister  of  these  three  brothers,  Mary, 
married  the  Very  Rev.  J.  S.  Howson,  Dean  of  Chester.  Another 
sister,  Sarah,  married  the  Rev.  Arthur  Willink ;  another  sister, 
Anne,  maried  1850,  Thos.  Matheson  ;  another  sister,  Isabella  Eliza, 
married  1854  J.  Rigg  Brougham  (nephew  of  Lord  Brougham)  ;  another 
sister,  Margaret,  married  1866  the  Rev.  Wm.  Jones. 


Act.  73  DUTIES  AS  AN  ELDER.  163 

his  generosity  was  magnanimous,  his  efforts  unwearied  in 
using  every  endeavour  to  put  an  end  to  Slavery  and  the  Slave 
Trade.  Ever  attached  to  the  principles  of  the  Society  of 
Friends.  ...  As  he  advanced  in  life  the  purity  of  these 
became  enhanced  in  his  estimation. 

Fri.,  Mar.  6. — The  church  wardens  called  for  Church  rates. 
I  fear  I  was  not  sufficiently  seriously  on  my  guard  to  carry 
much  conviction  to  their  minds  either  of  my  conscientious 
scruples  or  of  their  anti-christian  employment. 

Then  follow  several  days  when  he  is  beset  with 
fears  that  his  son  (i.e.,  Joseph)  has  upon  him  a  load 
of  responsibility  for  public  undertakings  and  private 
ones,  greater  than  he  can  carry  through  without 
embarrassment.  "  This  touches  me  to  the  quick." 
Whilst  Joseph  is  thus  employed,  his  father  is  buying 
premises  at  Seaton  to  provide  a  Meeting-house  there. 

Wed.,  Mar.  18. — After  much  solicitude  and  anxious 
thoughtfulness  I  united  with  two  Friends  in  addressing  a  few 
lines  to  a  dear  friend  in  the  ministry  stating  that  there  were 
times  when  his  ministry  did  not  appear  to  have  that  unction 
and  freshness  in  it  which  comforted  the  church.  .  .  . 
We  tenderly  desired  the  individual  to  endeavour  to  feel  how 
this  matter  stood,  and  as  nothing  but  love  moved  us  to  the 
very  trying  step,  so  if  we  were  mistaken  we  hoped  for 
forgiveness,  etc.  This  was  a  very  heavy  work  to  us. 

Mar.,  Sat.  21. — Another  week  is  gone.  I  value  my  exis 
tence  and  thankfully  adore  the  Giver  of  it  and  for  mercies. 
I  can  see,  admire,  and  love  the  beauties  of  creation,  and  I  can 
have  pleasure  in  many  of  the  improvements  and  projects  of 
men  and  am  pleased  with  the  completion  of  them. 

After  visiting  one  or  two  places  in  Yorkshire, 
he  returns  home  at  the  end  of  the  month,  remarking 
as  he  enters  his  house,  on  the  difference  of  "  the  recep 
tion  of  hired  kindnesses  compared  with  the  sweetness 


164  EDWARD  PEASE.  1840 

of  that  affection  which  once  from  a  lovely  and  beloved 
group  "  met  him,  and  notes  his  depression  about  the 
state  of  trade,  and  says  he  is  saddened  "  by  the  want 
of  employment  and  the  affecting  privations  the  poor 
suffer  at  this  time."  He  regrets  he  spends  so  much 
time  in  reading  publications  "  which  are  deemed 
interesting  and  informing."  He  makes  excuses  and 
good  resolutions  to  be  more  watchful,  after  going  to 
Newcastle  to  see  "  a  wonderful  display  of  the  powers 
of  the  mechanic  and  artist,"  at  the  same  time  expressing 
his  approval  of  such  exhibitions  for  raising  men  above 
low  pursuits. 

On  the  iyth  April  a  Moravian  (Geo.  Rose), 
breakfasted  with  him  and  argues  about  the  mar 
riage  and  burial  services,  and  the  Moravians  preferring 
to  submit  rather  than  suffer,  he  "  was  struck,  and  my 
own  short-coming  stared  me  in  the  face."  He  has 
Ireland  very  much  on  his  mind,  and  the  state  of  the 
Society.  "  Age  is  far  from  shaking  or  weakening  my 
faith,  and  I  believe  in  years  to  come  the  Society  of 
Friends  will  rise  higher  than  it  now  is." 

He  sets  off  for  Dublin  on  April  22nd,  sails  from 
Liverpool  on  the  morning  of  the  24th.  Almost  all  on 
board  are  sea-sick,  and  he  lands  at  6  p.m.,  to  meet 
a  warm  reception  at  Henry  Bewley's.  He  attends 
the  Dublin  Yearly  Meeting.  On  the  3Oth  he  writes  : 

Perhaps  the  natural  openness  of  my  disposition  and  the 
love  I  have  for  my  young  friends  might  be  one  cause  added 
to  my  dear  son  John  being  a  general  favourite  here,  of  at 
tracting  a  very  large  company  of  the  younger  class  to  my  lodg 
ings — about  fifty  were  present — it  being  my  wish  that  this 
dear  company  should  continue  to  love  our  Society,  and  that 
religion  should  not  appear  a  gloomy  thing  I  appeared  too  much 
at  my  ease  amongst  them,  and  it  may  be  too  cheerful.  A  little 
silence  came  over  us  and  my  tongue  in  unison  with  my  feelings 
was  ready  to  express  words,  but  did  not. 


Act.  73  SAMUEL  LLOYD.  165 

He  gets  home  on  the  7th  May,  and  visits  his  wife's 
grave  the  next  day,  and  had  the 

benign  assurance  that  the  spirit  of  my  dearest  was  with  the 
blessed  and  how  it  seemed  as  if  its  influence  in  the  tenderest 
accents  of  invitation  bids  me  to  live  so  holily  and  so  justly 
that  ours  might  be  one  and  the  same  eternal  abode. 

He  is  soon  off  again,  this  time  to  London  via 
Birmingham,  where  (May  i6th)  he  goes  "  to  Cousin 
Samuel  Lloyd's  to  breakfast,"  where  he  has  much 
sympathy  for  Mrs.  Lloyd,  "  Cousin  Rachel,"  whom 
he  finds  in  great  distress  about  her  husband's  estrange 
ment  from  the  principles  of  Friends.  He  tells  her 
"  not  to  be  moved  by  that  which  afflicts  her." 

She  remarked  in  unison  with  a  sentiment  of  mine  that 
although  all  men  forsook  the  profession  of  Quakerism  she  must 
remain  one. 

He  then  attends  the  Yearly  Meeting  in  London, 
dines  with  William  Allen,  and  hears  about  his  and  Eliza 
beth  Fry's  visit  to  Berlin.  One  day  he  is  exasperated 
by  "  a  meeting,  one  of  the  most  trying  ones  I  have 
attended  "  by  reason  of  S.  Grubb  occupying  "nearly 
the  whole  time  in  ministry,"  and  "  it  is  to  me  no  small 
trial  that  young  Friends  should  have  to  remark  to 
me  that  which  I  cannot  defend  on  the  clearest  and 
soundest  grounds." 

June  ist  he  commences  his  seventy-fourth  year, 
and  on  the  2nd  goes  on  to  Saffron  Walden  ;  he  enjoys 
his  time  there,  "  having  six  of  my  sons  and  daughters 
with  me  and  three  grandchildren,"  but  hears  on  the  4th 
of  the  death  of  his  Aunt  Bragg.* 

Out  of  the  limits  of  my  own  precious  family  I  had  not  so 

*  Edward  Pease's  wife's  aunt,  Margaret  Wilson,  married  Hadwen 
Bragg. 


166  EDWARD  PEASE.  1840 

true,  so  sincere,  so  affectionate,  so  sympathising  a  friend. 
.  .  .  I  know  no  female  that  was  her  equal  as  regards  the 
powers  of  a  naturally  strong  mind  improved  and  cultivated 
with  care  and  greatly  enriched  by  a  submission  to  the  influence 
of  divine  Grace. 

He  attends  her  funeral  at  Manchester  and  stays 
at  Cousin  Priestman's  and  their  Brother  and  Sister 
Bragg,  and  gets  home  the  next  day,  the  loth  June, 
when 

Joseph  left  home  once  more  to  attend  Parliament — a  mys 
terious  engagement  for  him  !  What  is  the  good  to  result  out 
of  it  to  him — to  local  concerns  in  which  myself,  my  family 
and  friends  have  been  and  are  interested,  his  attendance  has 
been  of  great  value — but  nationally  ...  all  is  hidden. 

The  following  day  he  is  "  lamentably  heavy  in 
meeting." 

Wed.,  June  17. — My  mind  continues  at  seasons  to  meditate, 
perplexity  and  distress  to  arise  out  of  the  intended  settlement 
between  my  nephew  John,  and  my  dear  son,  through  the 
difficulty  of  my  dear  brother  whose  waywardness  I  deplore. 
To  the  great  Searcher  of  hearts  I  can  appeal  that  I  could 
give  my  nephew  thousands  to  be  quietly  and  peaceably  and 
comfortably  through  this  long  delayed  and  troublesome 
affair,  rendered  so  by  my  brother's  procrastination  and  sus 
picious  disposition. 

He  then  visits  Cumberland,  and  at  Wigton  Quarterly 
Meeting  remarks,  "  Comforted  in  seeing  as  I  believed, 
an  improvement  in  Friends  of  this  Quarterly  Meeting  ; 
very  many  formerly  were  the  exceptions  in  the  answer 
to  the  query  respecting  Temperance  ;  now  but  little 
complaint,  and  .  .  .  more  of  a  practical  living 
up  to  our  testimonies.  .  .  ." 

I  pass  over  another  journey  to  Kendal,  "  where 
once  it  was  a  delightsome  land  to  me"  and  his  anxiety 


Act.  73  PUBLIC  SERVICE.  167 

on  his  return  about  his  son's  numerous  undertakings 
("  my  spirit  can  have  no  rest,  peace  or  unity  with 
great  concerns,  believing  them  to  be  without  the 
bounded  limitations  of  truth "),  and  another  visit 
to  Newcastle,  another  to  Seaton,  where  he  spends 
three  weeks  of  "  idleness  sauntering  and  walking  : 
which,  however  bracing  they  may  be,  have  in  them  a 
relaxing  debilitating  effect  on  the  mind." 

Mon.,  July  27. — Went  to  Durham  on  a  summons  to 
attend  the  Grand  Jury  with  whom  I  dined.  I  am  willing  to  take 
some  share  in  those  services  which  I  conceive  are  for  public 
benefit. 

But  he  goes  on  to  declare  that  he  does  not  think  he 
will  serve  again  as  the  numerous  oaths  put  appear  to 
him  a  violation  of  the  Lord's  command,  and  "  I  cannot 
bear  to  see  this  part  of  His  office  and  end  of  His 
coming  trodden  underfoot/' 

Thursday,  Aug.  6th,  finds  him  visiting  the  poorest 
Friends. 

Surely  they  must  dwell  nearer  the  fountain  of  good  than  I 
do,  their  patience,  their  gratitude  and  thankfulness  had  loud 
preaching  in  it  to  me,  so  I  was  glad  I  went. 

The  following  incident  is  a  curious  survival  of 
Quaker  testimony.  On  the  nth  August  he  goes  to 
attend  the  funeral  of  his  "very  worthy  and  much  loved 
cousin,  W.  Wilson."  The  funeral  next  day  is  very 
largely  attended  and 

whilst  sitting  previous  to  removing  the  coffin,  Cousin 
Isaac  Crewdson  made  a  prayer  ;  many  Friends  knelt  [quite  an 
unorthodox  thing  to  do]  and  all  others  stood  up  ;  it  appeared 
to  be  my  place  much  in  the  cross  to  keep  my  seat ;  this  I  did 
unpremeditatingly,  and  was  peaceful  in  it,  and  increasingly 
so  in  the  remembrance  that  He  Who  gives  the  Spirit  of  true 
prayer  withdrew  from  them  who  were  always  ready.  .  .  . 


168  EDWARD  PEASE.  1840 

He  deplores  the  fact,  while  at  Kendal,  that  he 
"  could  hardly  enter  a  dwelling  where  the  scatterer  had 
not  been,  alienating  some  and  crippling  others." 
On  the  igth  August  : — 

In  my  ride  this  day  observed  some  wheat  cut,  the  first  I 
have  seen  this  season. 

On  the  25th  he  goes  to  Seaton 

to  see  the  exhibition  of  rockets,  used  to  save  lives  of  mariners 
when  the  ship  was  run  ashore.  It  appears  to  me  a  useful 
and  praiseworthy  invention. 

After  some  very  successful  experiments,  a 
party  of  sixty  dined  together,  but  he  will  not  join 
them,  because  the  "  folly  called  cheering,  inconsistent 
with  commonsense,  is  indulged  in." 

Thurs.,  Sept.  3. — At  an  adjournment  of  our  Monthly  Meeting 
my  nephew,  Henry  Whitwell,*  and  Ann  Backhouse  Robson, 
laid  before  it  their  intention  of  marriage. 

My  great-grandfather  often  makes  me  smile  with 
his  pedantic  language  :  — 

Wed.,  Sept.  9: — Went  to  Newcastle  to  attend  to  my  interest 
in  the  Forth  Bridge  Engine  manufactory,  Whilst  engaged  in 
matters  needful  to  be  attended  to,  I  trust  some  anxiety  was 
generally  prevalent  that  the  important  end  of  my  being  might 
be  uppermost. 

Sat.,  Sept.  19. — My  dear  sister  Whitwell  came  to  attend 
her  son  Henry's  marriage,  accompanied  by  her  son  Edward, 

*  Henry  Whitwell  was  shot  dead  in  Madrid  during  the  Revolution 
in  1848  (2 /th  March)  by  a  sentry  in  the  street.  He  had  the  password 
but  stammered,  and  it  being  a  critical  moment  when  he  was  challenged, 
his  nervousness  made  him  stammer  worse  than  ever,  and  unable  to 
give  the  word  he  was  shot,  and  buried  in  a  mule  stable.  His  widow 
married  David  Dale  (afterwards  Sir  David  Dale,  Bart.). 


Act.  73  VARIOUS  VISITS.  169 

who  has  recently  thrown  off  the  garb  of  a  Friend  and  resigned 
his  membership.  My  apprehension  is  that  there  is  a  danger  of 
his  having  herein  committed  a  mistake  and  may  be  accepting 
and  substituting  form  for  power. 

He  puts  up  "  ten  to  lodge,"  and  has  many  visitors 
for  the  wedding  on  the  23rd.  I  pass  over  another 
tour  he  makes  in  Dorsetshire  and  Hampshire  among 
Friends,  after  a  visit  to  Saffron  Walden  and  London, 
and  returning  by  Bristol.  At  Southampton  (26th 
and  27th  October),  he  remembers  the  anniversary  of 
his  wife's  death,  and  after  a  description  of  the  "  darling 
of  his  bosom,"  he  mentions  that  at  "  our  morning 
reading,"  she  often  "  bent  the  knee  and  poured  out 
her  thanksgiving  for  mercies,  and  prayers  for  dedi 
cation,  faith  and  obedience  to  divine  requirings." 
He  also  remarks  about  Southampton  Friends — the 
love  of  the  world,  the  fear  of  man,  in  neglecting  "  the 
use  of  the  plain,  unflattering  language  has  caused, 
and  will  cause,  a  falling  away  and  withering  here." 

He  returns  home,  but  spends  five  weeks  with  his 
daughter  at  Bristol  in  November  and  December. 
The  I7th  December  finds  Joseph  John  Gurney  staying 
with  him,  after  three  years  in  America. 

Sat.,  Dec.  19. — Read  some  of  the  Life  of  Sir  Samuel  Romilly ; 
it  interested  me.  Romilly  seems  to  have  been  no  Christian, 
the  associates  of  his  early  life  were  the  wicked  French  revolu- 
t  ionary  Atheists ;  his  own  talents  were  brilliant,  but  his  shock- 
i  ng  self-destruction  proved  that  his  principles  led  to  no  correct 
views  of  eternity  or  holy  fear. 

On  the  24th  December  he  feels  it  his  duty  to  go 
off  to  Edinburgh  with  H.  C.  B.  (Mrs.  Backhouse), 
who  has  "  a  concern  to  visit  Friends  and  hold  a  public 
meeting."  Mrs.  Backhouse  seems  to  have  been  rather 
uneasy  on  the  journey  at  Rusheyford  on  the  25th 
December 


170  EDWARD  PEASE.  1840 

she  became  desirous  of  a  religious  interview  with  the  inn 
keeper,  T.  Holt,  but  he  was  too  much  indisposed  to  be  seen. 

The  next  afternoon  near  Melrose  the  ."  exercised 
Sister  became  very  thoughtful.  .  .  After  some 
cogitation,  she  became  willing  to  proceed."  It  is  a 
great  trial  to  him,  making  up  his  mind  to  go  as  escort 
with  the  two  ladies  (the  other  being  Miss  E.  P.  Kirk- 
bride,  afterwards  the  third  Mrs.  Joseph  John  Gurney). 
They  go  on  to  Haddington  and  Anstruther  and  Kirk- 
caldy.  At  the  end  of  the  year  he  adds  up  the  blessings 
of  it,  among  which  the  settlement  with  his  brother, 

who  with  grief  I  record  has  evinced  not  one  particle  of  brotherly 
or  relative  love  that  I  am  aware  of.  If  in  his  dispositions  or 
ours  there  should  remain  hard  or  unforgiving  thoughts  may 
they  be  swallowed  by  that  wisdom  which  is  gentle  and  seeketh 
not  its  own. 

From  further  remarks,  he  appears  to  have  dreaded 
for  years  this  settlement,  having  "  abounding  fears 
of  some  open  rupture  "  or  wounding  of  the  character 
of  his  family,  "  who  at  one  season  were  greatly  and 
falsely  aspersed." 


CHAPTER  V. 

1841. 

EDWARD  PEASE  leaves  Edinburgh  on  New  Year's 
Day,  and  "  came  to  Melrose  and  had  a  meeting 
for  the  inhabitants  in  the  evening,"  which  was  well 
attended. 

Sat.,  Jan.  2. — Travelled  this  day  from  Melrose  to  Berwick, 
forty-three  miles  ;  the  weather  was  fine,  the  ride,  much  by  the 
river  Tweed,  was  beautiful,  the  cultivation  and  land  good,  the 
farmyards  remarkably  stocked  with  ricks  of  corn.  .  .  . 
Whilst  at  Edinburgh  I  heard  of  the  very  sudden  decease  of 
my  dear  and  valued  cousin  Ann  Mounsey,  three  or  four  years 
younger  than  myself.  She  was  a  virtuous  kind,  hospitable 
woman  in  the  station  of  an  elder.  She  died  universally  beloved 
by  all  who  knew  her. 

The  next  day,  Sunday,  Mrs.  H.  C.  Backhouse 
addresses  a  meeting  of  300  at  Spittal  and  of  "  1,000 
at  Berwick  in  a  large  chapel  lent  by  the  minister 
present/' 

Mon.,  Jan.  n. — United  with  Annie  Hutchinson  and  Mary 
Cudworth,  paid  a  visit  to  Ann  Eliza  Dale*  on  her  request  to  be 
united  in  membership  with  our  Society.  She  is  a  truly  pious 

*  The  mother  of  the  late  Sir  David  Dale,  who  having  lost  her  husband, 
an  Indian  Civil  Servant,  had  returned  to  England  with  her  infant  son. 
I  have  heard  that  she  was  making  her  way  to  Scotland  when  either  she  fell 
ill  or  some  other  misfortune  occurred  at  Darlington.  The  Friends  there  did 
what  they  could  for  her  and  her  child  and  she  made  her  home  amongst 
them.  The  day  came  when  a  full  return  was  made  by  the  son  to  the 
town  that  had  befriended  him  and  his  mother,  for  his  public  services  to 
Darlington  were  many  and  great  throughout  a  long  life,  during  the  whole 
of  which  he  made  this  place  his  home. 

171 


172  EDWARD  PEASE.  1841 

minded  person  and  being  convinced  of  the  principles  has 
through  conscientious  conviction  taken  up,  to  her,  a  heavy 
Cross.* 

Tues.  Jan.  12. — The  application  of  Ann  E.  Dale  was 
again  left  for  consideration  next  month. 

On  the  2nd  February,  at  the  Monthly  Meeting 
at  Stockton,  he  notes  : 

It  was  concluded  to  receive  pious  A.  Eliza  Dale  into  mem 
bership.  The  mind  of  the  meeting,  I  think,  was  weightily 
ascertained  and  whilst  my  judgment  did  accord  therewith 
yet  my  mind  was  not  void  of  apprehension  that  in  some  way 
or  other  this  dear  individual  might  not  be  a  source  of  some 
anxiety  to  us. 

In  the  meanwhile  he  had  one  day 

some  conversation  with  Ann  E.  Dale  on  the  established 
religion.  Her  regard  for  it  perhaps  not  sufficiently  gone,  but 
that  eye  which  can  discern  between  true,  pure,  and  undefiled 
religion  and  that  which  is  man-anointed  and  man-appointed 
I  trust  is  gradually  opening. 

On  Saturday,  i6th  January,  he  relates  that  a  large 
collection  of  his  wife's  and  his  own  letters, 

wrote  during  the  last  forty  years  to  my  very  worthy  Uncle 
and  Aunt  Bragg,  being  returned  to  me,  I  have  this  day  com 
menced  to  make  extracts,  trusting  when  I  am  removed  to 
another  state  of  being  there  may  be  some  lasting  proofs  for 
his  descendants  of  that  true  love  their  father  and  mother 
had  for  each  other.  .  .  ,  though  devious  their  course 
and  often  backsliding  as  was  their  poor  father,  it  was  ever  his 
desire  and  aim  to  bring  no  stain  on  that  cause  which,  with  his 
beloved  companion  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord  they  endeavoured 
to  maintain. 

The  extracts  of  this  and  other  correspondence 
are  in  my  possession.  He  often  refers  to  these  letters : 
here  is  one  out  of  several  remarks  : 

*  The  stiffer  sort  of  the  Darlington  Quakers  even  objected  to  her 
wearing  her  wedding  ring.  My  grandmother  Mrs.  Joseph  Pease  did  not 
wear  hers  at  Darlington  and  only  when  away  from  home. 


Aet.  74      DEATH  OF  JANE  GURNEY.       173 

When  my  beloved  family  come  to  peruse  the  extracts  I 
have  made  it  will  be  needful  they  should  make  many  allow 
ances.  They  will  discover  much  of  human  frailty  and  weak 
ness  ;  yet  they  will  discover  that  no  union  more  true,  more 
saintly  affectionate  and  one  in  purpose  ever  existed  than  that 
between  their  father  and  mother. 

Mon.,  Feb.  22. — Met  a  few  Friends  to  confer  on 
Cousin  Thomas  Richardson's  munificent  offer  of  £5,000 
towards  establishing  an  Agricultural  School  for  children 
whose  parents  have  been  members  of  our  Society. 

Feb.  26. — My  dear  daughter-in-law  Emma  having  received 
an  account  of  the  increased  indisposition  of  her  dear  mother,* 
I  agreed  to  accompany  her  to  Norwich.  We  proceeded  as  far 
as  Borobridge  this  evening. 

The  next  evening  they  reach  Sleaford.  The  next 
day,  Sunday,  28th  February, 

when  we  came  within  two  miles  of  Norwich  we  received  the 
solemn  tidings  that  last  night,  about  nine  o'clock  the  captive 
spirit  of  my  dear  sister  was  set  free. 

The  following  days  he  spends  in  writing  letters 
from  The  Grove,  and  in  the  company  of  the  relations. 
On  the  3rd  March  he  writes  : — 

How  sweetly  consoling  is  the  death-bed  scene,  when  as  with 
parting  breath  acknowledgment  is  made,  as  my  dear  sister 
Gurney  did,  that  the  pearl  gate  was  open,  that  all  was  clear, 
that  nothing  stood  in  her  way. 

Fri.,  Mar.  5. — The  interment  of  my  dear  Sister-in-Lawf 
Jane  Gurney  in  her  seventy-fourth  year.  Having  known 
the  dear  deceased  upwards  of  forty  years,  when  she  was  young 

*  Jane  Gurney,  nee  Chapman,  daughter  of  Abel  Chapman,  of 
Whitby.  The  portraits  I  possess  of  her  represent  her  as  a  fashionable 
and  beautiful  young  lady,  and  in  advanced  life  and  old  age  dressed  as 
a  Friend. 

f  Sister-in-law :  Quakers  regarded  the  fathers-in-law  and  mothers- 
in-law  of  their  children  as  brothers  and  sisters. 


174  EDWARD  PEASE.  1841 

and  gay,  I  have  seldom  seen  a  more  striking  instance  of  the 
refining  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  ...  as  years  crept 
on  more  and  more  anxiety  was  apparent  in  her  house,  pro 
ceedings  and  demeanor  to  live  up  to  the  principles  she 
professed. 

From  the  Grove  he  goes  on  to  Saffron  Walden,  and 
then  to  a  Quarterly  Meeting  at  Coggeshall ;  he  thinks 
the  place  unsuitable  for  a  meeting,  where  "  120  to 
130  men  attended,  and  many  more  females,"  and  he 
dislikes  the  "  ministry  of  some  females  who  only 
spoke "  without  "  liveliness  of  expression,  feeling 
or  exercise." 

It  may  seem  to  the  reader  that  in  my  endeavour 
to  give  in  his  own  words  an  idea  of  this  period  of  my 
great-grandfather's  life,  I  overload  it  with  trivial 
details  and  tiresome  extracts,  but  I  prefer  to  give  too 
much  rather  than  too  little,  for  only  by  copious  quota 
tions  can  the  various  thoughts  and  habits  of  expression 
that  belong  to  a  bygone  day  be  fairly  judged.  There 
is  nothing  much  more  certain  than  that  the  picture 
of  a  man  as  obtained  from  his  journals  is  a  very  differ 
ent  one  from  that  which  is  made  from  external  obser 
vation.  But  without  the  two  no  just  appreciation 
of  the  many  sides  of  human  nature  possessed  by  any 
one  individual  is  possible.  I  like  to  note  apparent 
inconsistencies  with  the  simplicity  of  Quakerism, 
such  as  the  following  :  When  after  leaving  Saffron 
Walden  he  goes  to  Belmont  "  to  see  my  dear  little 
grandson  Henry,"  and  having  regretted  that  owing 
"  to  the  knowledge  of  how  much  dwells  in  me  not 
redeemed  from  the  world,  I  could  not  wholly  adopt 
the  words.  :  .  :  '  The  Angel  who  has  redeemed  me 
from  all  evil  bless  the  lad/  "  he  goes  on  to  remark  on 
the  illness  of  his  "  valued  Sister  Fell,"*  and  says  : 

*  i.e.,  the  mother  of  his  son  Henry's  wife. 


Aet.  74          "  PULLING  OFF  OF  HARNESS/'  175 

having  done  what  she  could,  may  the  four  angels  who  had 
the  care  that  no  winds  should  blow  on  the  earth  keep  her  from 
the  tossing  of  every  tempestuous  thought. 

Again,  here  is  a  curious  passage  : — 

Thurs.,  Mar.  25. — In  the  zeal  which  has  recently  been 
manifested  for  the  abolition  of  Slavery,  there  has  been  a  mixing 
of  almost  every  description  of  character  of  not  a  few  very 
talented  persons  who,  as  regards  our  Blessed  Lord  and  the 
revelation  of  His  will  to  man,  many  are  unbelievers  ;  they  are 
benevolent  and  philanthropic,  carrying  their  views  on  the  two 
last  named  virtues  beyond  a  sound  foundation,  denying  the 
authority  and  intervention  of  human  Government  and  au 
thority  ;  this  doctrine  and  their  plausible  manners  have  in 
them  a  deadly  snare  to  members  of  our  religious  profession. 
.  .  .  May  it  please  Almighty  God  to  frustrate  the  tokens 
of  these  Liars  against  his  Son,  and  his  truth. 

It  is  comparatively  seldom  that  he  takes  much 
notice  of  anything  like  business  in  these  diaries.  On 
March  22nd,  after  spending  part  of  a  day  at  St.  Helen's 
Colliery,  he  says  : — 

I  seem  prepared  or  nearly  so  to  resign  my  cares  (and  they 
have  been  very  small)  in  this  concern  to  others,  the  pulling 
off  of  harness  .  .  .  more  and  more  becomes  me,  so  that 
when  the  call  comes  "  all  things  are  now  ready  for  thy 
entrance,"  no  Garments  may  be  found  on  me  unfitting  for 
the  presence  of  my  Lord. 

Sat.,  Mar.  27. — Whilst  at  Shields  yesterday  afternoon  died 
Isaac  Richardson.  He  was  the  son  of  Henry  Richardson  of 
Stockton,  before  that  of  Whitby.  Isaac  Richardson's  wife, 
now  widow,  was  daughter  of  Joseph  Unthank  ;  the  deceased 
died  in  humble  hope  of  the  mercy  of  his  Saviour ;  his  had 
been  a  life  of  vicissitude,  some  trial  and  some  changes  (having 
been  a  brewer)  for  conscience  sake.  It  has  been  much  in  my 
observation  that  whilst  Friends  may  not  during  life  have 
evinced  all  that  watchfulness  or  regard  for  things  of  a  heavenly 


176  EDWARD  PEASE.  1841 

nature,  yet  there  having  been  kept  up  a  more  than  usual  care 
not  to  offend  the  Most  High  by  violating  his  moral  Law,  though 
strong  confidence  is  not  granted,  there  is  among  them  a  more 
general  humble  peace,  yielding  hope  in  the  end. 

Tues.,  Mar.  30. — A  day  of  great  bustle  and  unsettlement 
from  the  opening  of  the  Great  North  of  England  Railway. 
Twenty  years  ago  these  projects,  or  rather  that  from  this  coal 
district,  was  of  much  interest  to  my  mind  and  its  completion 
in  1825  may  be  said  to  have  given  birth  to  all  others  in  this 
world.  For  the  cause  of  humanity,  at  least,  I  believe  them  to 
be  useful  and  being  in  the  permission  of  infinite  Wisdom  hope 
they  may  not  be  wrong,  but  I  desire  to  acknowledge  with 
thankfulness  that  my  mind  is  broken  off  or  weaned  from  all 
new  schemes. 

Several  times  in  this  year  he  speaks  of  his  anxieties 
from  "  the  numerous  and  extensive  cares  which  rest 
heavily  on  the  shoulders  "  of  his  son  Joseph.  On 
May  I2th,  he  records  at  Saffron  Walden,  in  reference 
to  some  of  these  entries  : — 

On  the  night  of  the  loth  it  seemed  to  be  so  audibly  spoken 
to  me  "  Grants  have  stopped  payment  "  that  not  a  shadow  of 
a  doubt  is  with  me  but  it  is  really  the  case,  and  as  one  of 
those  with  whom  my  dear  sons  have  the  largest  dealings  I 
fear  a  heavy  loss  is  sustained  ;  how  safe  it  is  to  have  limited 
and  contracted  affairs.  May  lessons  of  instruction  be  learned. 

There  is  little  to  note  whilst  he  is  attending  the 
Yearly  Meeting  in  London,  but  he  records  on  Friday, 
May  2ist,  that 

the  consideration  of  the  State  of  the  Society  coming  before 
the  meeting  brought  some  excellent  remarks  from  my  dear 
son  (John)  and  W.  Forster  ;  the  sum  of  which  seems  to  have 
been  a  pressing  for  a  return  to  first  principles  in  the  simplicity 
and  sincerity  and  zeal  in  which  our  early  Friends  followed  their 
Lord,  and  how  deviation  from  plainness  of  speech  and  apparel, 
the  first  trespasses  in  a  tender  conscience  were  stated  to  be  as 


Aet.  74   PETER  BEDFORD— JOHN  ALLAN.      177 

snares.  .  .  a  quiet  solid  meeting  ...  In  the  after 
noon  at  Gracechurch  Street  I  had  much  struggle  with  heaviness ; 
in  striving  against  it,  it  was  in  some  measure  overcome. 

June  ist,  after  a  good  many  visits  and  attending 
many  meetings  and  committees,  finds  him  "  with  my 
dear  friend,  Peter  Bedford,  at  Croydon,"  and  he  puts 
down,  "  Now  this  day  entered  my  seventy-fifth  year." 
He  returns  home  on  the  4th  June. 

Sat.,  June  5. — I  am  free  to  record  that  having  made  a 
small  purchase  of  some  decoration  to  place  on  my  lawn  I  am 
not  free  from  some  reproach  and  condemnation,  believing  that 
religion  which  I  have  from  my  Lord,  if  I  am  faithful  to  it, 
admits  but  little  of  self-pleasing  in  the  purchase  and  use  of 
things  which  are  merely  decorative;  besides,  there  is  an 
example  to  those  around  us  which,  if  they  follow,  we  feel  we 
have  been  corrupters.  .  . 

On  the  I2th  June  he  refers  to  his  property  at  Seaton 
and  what  he  has  given  for  the  Meeting-house  there, 
and  on  the  I4th  he  calls  on 

John  Allan,  one  of  the  magistrates  for  this  place ;  appre 
hending  many  immoral  stains  attach  to  him,  I  contemplate 
his  removal  from  this  state  of  being  with  awful  feelings,  for 
it  appears  to  me  the  time  is  nigh  when  his  account  must  be 
rendered  to  the  righteous  Judge  of  all  the  earth.  May  a 
day  of  repentance  yet  be  granted. 

I  think  this  refers  to  John  Allan,  of  Blackwell  Hall, 
who  died  in  1844,  aet-  sixty-six,  who  left  his  property 
to  his  nephew,  Robert  Henry  Allan,  born  1802. 

On  the  igth  June  he  refers  to  a  visit  made  by  Joseph 
John  Gurney  and  Josiah  Forster  to  the  King  of  the 
French  and  his  ministers 

on  subjects  of  general  philanthropy,  particularly  respecting 
slavery  and  the  slave  trade.  To  what  a  marvellous  extent  the 

14 


178  EDWARD  PEASE.  1841 

labours  of  those  who  have  steadily  and  strenuously  advocated 
this  cause  have  been  blest. 

He  attends  several  meetings  connected  with  the 
foundation  of  the  Agricultural  School  at  Great  Ayton. 

Fri.,  June  25. — Again  has  the  making  of  these  daily  notes 
claim'd  my  consideration  ;  their  contents  may  never  be  of 
any  value  or  interest  to  any  one,  but  let  the  reader  be  informed 
that  having  drawn  me  into  self  examination,  and  having  been 
an  incentive  to  more  watchfulness,  so  far  they  have  not  been 
entirely  without  value  to  me  in  my  Christian  course  ! 

Tues.,  June  29. — In  passing  through  the  town  I  observe 
nearly  all  the  windows  in  the  Town  Hall  are  broken  by  the 
riotous  inebriates  of  last  night.  Oh,  the  wickedness  of  contested 
elections.  When  will  the  day  come  .  .  .  when  righteous 
ness  shall  run  down  as  a  mighty  stream. 

Wed.,  June  30. — Party  spirit,  strife,  tumult  and  dispositions 
which  are  from  beneath  are  mournfully  the  attendants  of 
contested  elections  and  every  species  of  wickedness  may  be 
said  appertains  to  them.  If  Friends  are  to  vote,  how  quiet, 
how  retired  they  ought  to  be  that  in  no  wise  they  countenance 
any  proceedings  beyond  the  bounds  which  a  faithful  listening 
to  the  voice  of  wisdom  would  be  revealed  to  them  and  be  their 
guide — thus  far  shalt  thou  go  and  no  further. 

Wed.,  Julyj.  — Returned  home  thankful  that  the  bustle 
of  yesterday,  as  the  day  of  nomination  for  Members  of  Parlia 
ment,  was  quietly  over,  and  that  my  heart  was  out  of  all  cares 
and  anxieties  into  which,  little  to  their  profit,  some  of  my 
friends  were  drawn. 

Whilst  I  believe  the  Gospel  Spirit  may  allow  us  to  give  a 
vote  for  the  best  principled  men  who  offer,  yet  there  are  so 
many  measures  in  which  the  man  who  may  be  said  to  repre 
sent  me  can  and  does  unite,  that  I  am  not  free  from  some 
reluctant  feelings  in  giving  any  vote. 

Sat.,  July  10. — Concluding  day  of  election,  Bowes  and  Vane 
the  successful  candidates ;  the  termination  was  as  orderly  as 


Aet.  74      ELECTION  OF  BOWES  AND  VANE.  179 

could  be  expected.  Lord  H.  Vane  lodged  at  my  house,  which 
afforded  an  opportunity  of  frank  and  friendly  converse  ;  he 
appears  an  amiable  man,  friendly  to  religious. liberty  and  non- 
Ecclesiastical  assumption.  Went  to  Middlesbro'  with  dear 
Joseph  to  see  the  docks  drawing  to  completion.  I  should  have 
enjoyed  such  commercial  advantages,  but  mental  pain  and 
sympathy  was  my  portion  in  a  deep  sense  of  the  almost  over 
whelming  load  my  dear  Son  has  to  carry.  ... 

Mon.,  July  12. — A  vast  concourse  in  the  town  to  witness 
the  two  successful  candidates  being  chaired  ;  great  intemper 
ance  and  tumultuous  unsettlement.  When  will  men  be 
wise  and  a  better  state  of  things  supervene  ?  .  .  . 

Thurs.,  July  15. — Some  sweet  instruction  as  I  meditate 
over  the  silent  Grave  of  my  ever  to  be  beloved  and  never  to  be 
forgotten  Rachel,  who  being  dead  yet  seemed  to  speak  and  to 
encourage  me  as  she  often  did  to  live  a  life  of  piety,  to  love  and 
to  serve  my  God  and  his  church,  to  beware  of  the  cares  of  life 
that  they  did  not  dry  up  the  Spirit  of  God  that  as  she  was 
kind  and  tender-hearted  to  the  poor  and  to  all,  so  kindness  and 
tenderness  might  mark  my  path.  Lord  help  in  all  this  and  in 
all  that  is  well  pleasing  to  Thee. 

The  next  day,  among  other  memoranda,  he  writes  : 

This  completes  the  4O2nd  week  since  I  saw  deposited  in  the 
tomb  the  best  of  heaven's  gifts  to  me  on  this  side  eternity. 

And  on  the  following  one  he  reverts  to  his  son 
Joseph,  who,  he  declares,  "  has  too  much  to  carry  through 
for  any  purse  or  resources,"  and  exclaims  : — 

What  a  contrast  between  the  spirit  of  the  world,  its  grasp 
ing  and  compassing,  compared  with  that  peace  yielding  limita 
tion  described  by  the  apostle,  of  being  content  with  food  and 
raiment,  toiling  and  anxiety  to  be  rich  is  here  at  an  end.  This 
day  once  more  completed  my  redrawn  will  and  a  settlement 
in  trust  on  my  daughter. 


i8o  EDWARD  PEASE.  1841 

On  the  20th  July  he  attends  a  meeting  at  Stockton, 
where  they  cordially  agree  to  recording  E.  P.  Kirkbride 
(afterwards  Mrs.  Joseph  John  Gurney)  a  minister, 
and  then  he  goes  on  to  Ackworth  School  and  examines 
the  boys,  and  on  the  26th  proceeds  with  W.  Forster, 
G.  Stacey,  D.  P.  Hack  and  W.  Fry  on  a  visit  to  the 
meetings  of  Dorset,  Hampshire,  the  Channel  Islands 
and  Cornwall. 

I  pass  over  most  of  the  incidents  of  this  journey, 
but  the  following  are  some  of  the  more  peculiar 
remarks  : — 

July  31. — Went  to  Southampton  and  had  a  welcome 
reception  from  my  cousins,*  Rolles  Driver  and  Sarah. 
Had  to  regret  in  this  family  a  departure  from  simplicity 
in  speech,  furniture  and  attire.  Whilst  much  of  sincerity  of 
desire  may  dwell  in  the  bosoms  of  those  who  possess  and  do 
these  things  my  belief  is  that  the  spirit  of  truth  as  lived  in 
and  obeyed,  would  do  away  with  all  connected  with  this  part 
of  the  pride  of  life  and  so  refine  the  spirit  that  its  enjoyment 
would  be,  etc. 

*  Cousins — the  relationship  is  as  follows  : — 

Edward  Pease,  b  1711, 
m.  1735  Eliz.  Coates. 


Joseph  Pease,  Edward  Pease, 

b.  1737,  b.  1748, 

1763  m.  Mary  Richardson.  m.  1778  Selfe  Pennitt. 

Edward  Pease,  Selfe  Pease, 

b.  1767.  b.  1781, 

1804  m.  Hy.  Fredk.  Smith. 

Sarah  Smith, 

b.  1807,  d.  1876, 

1835,  m.  Rolles  Driver, 

of  Southampton. 

Saml.  Rolles  Driver, 

Fellow  of  New  Coll,  Oxon, 

and  Canon  of  Christchurch, 

b.  1846. 


Act.  74  A  CASE  FOR  DISCIPLINE.  181 

At  Poole  a  few  days  later,  he  remarks  that  at  the 
meeting  were  "  several  females,  mostly  very  gayly 
dressed,"  and  "  the  Mayor  of  Poole,  Wm.  Pinny,* 
was  Clerk  to  the  preparative  meeting." 

At  Liskeard  he  met  with  his 

dear  friend  Elizabeth  Fox  and  her  daughter  Charlotte  from 
Falmouth,  also  Wm.  and  Ann  Ball. 

At  Bristol  he  has 

some  conference  with  my  dear  friend  Edward  Ash  respecting 
a  book  he  had  given  forth,  j 

He  then  travels  on  in  September  into  Wales, 
and  mentions  one  meeting  held  regularly  from  time 
to  time  at  Brecknock  in  a  "  large  good  inn  "  ;  he  found 
Peny-y-Bent  such  a  "  romantic  spot,"  with  such  an 
"  excellent  Inn,"  that  he  makes  it  his  residence  for 
a  few  days,  and  then  goes  home. 

The  following  is  also  a  curious  note  of  a  meeting 
he  attended  in  September  : — 

Report  brought  in  by  a  Committee  who  after  a  searching 
investigation  acquitted  a  dear  friend  who  had  solicited  inquiry, 
that  no  moral  turpitude  attached  to  him  but  considerable 
impropriety  of  conduct  in  his  association  with  a  female  friend — 
too  frequent,  too  intimate,  too  secluded. 

Fri.,  Sep.  24. — My  dear  daughter  Sophia  and  her  two  girls, 
my  dear  Joseph  and  Emma  with  their  four  daughters  and  five 
sons,  also  dear  Henry  dined  with  me.  When  I  looked  round  my 
table  and  beheld  so  many  of  my  descendants  so  healthy  and 
so  happy  my  heart  was  filled  with  gratitude.  The  prayer  of 
my  spirit  is  that  all  these  dear  children  may  be  preserved  in 
simplicity,  that  they  so  walk  in  those  principles  and  maintain 

*  Should  be  George  Penney,  Mayor  of  Poole,  1840-41. 

f  Edward  Ash,  M.D.,  author  of  various  works.  The  book  referred 
to  here  is  "  An  Inquiry  into  some  Prominent  Parts  of  Christian  Doctrine, ' ' 
published  anonymously. 


182  EDWARD  PEASE.  1841 

those  testimonies  of  the  truth,  that  they  experience  the  comfort 
and  safety  there  is  in  them  and  the  glorious  hope  which  faith  in 
Jesus  Christ  and  obedience  to  the  revelation  of  his  Spirit  can 
give. 

The  following  description  of  a  First-day  afternoon 
meeting  is  quaint  :— 

A  drive  through  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  without 
feeling  or  end  seemed  only  to  cover  us  with  dust. 

The  next  meeting  he  attends,  he  writes,  "  Ex 
ceedingly  heavy,  trying  meeting  :  could  get  at  no 
good." 

In  the  early  part  of  October  he  is  rather  too  much 
"  engaged  "  by  visitors  ;    he  has  "  sixteen  inmates  ' 
in  his  house  for  two  or  three  days,  and  feels  "a  degree 
of  langour  so   different   to  that   vigour   of  life  which 
for  the  few  past  years  I  have  been  favord  with." 

Mon.,  Oct.  nth. — Surrounded  as  I  am  with  innumerable 
comforts  and  blessed  with  enough  of  those  things  which  con 
stitute  the  outward  and  visible  happinesses  of  time,  some 
thought  crossed  my  mind  of  making  some  changes  and  altera 
tions  which  some  might  deem  adaptations  to  my  circumstances, 
but  I  felt  thankful  in  finding  a  gentle  restraint  placed  on  my 
mind  in  following  customs  luxurious  in  their  tendency  and 
probably  the  seed  of  further  deviations  from  simplicity  in 
those  who  follow  the  customs  and  to  their  successors — I  allude 
to  purchases  and  introduction  of  pictures  and  many  fancy 
articles  into  dwellings  generally.  As  to  the  general  use  at 
many  Friends'  tables  of  silver  forks,*  a  water  goblet  to  each 
person,  a  finger  glass  for  water  at  the  end  of  a  repast 
and  other  customs,  whilst  I  desire  not  to  condemn  those 
who  use  them  I  am  satisfied  they  are  not  for  me  ;  the  more 
all  that  surrounds  us  in  our  dwellings  approaches  that  testi 
mony  which  deems  plainness  of  speech,  behaviour  and  apparel 

*  I  have  sets  of  silver  spoons  and  forks  given  by  him  to  his  children 
and  grandchildren.  Silver  forks  appear  to  have  been  a  greater  vanity 
than  silver  spoons,  but  he  gave  me  a  silver  fork  when  a  child. 


Aet.  74 


SAMUEL  GURNEY. 


183 


Christian  duties,the  more  free  our  tables,our  houses,  and  all  that 
surrounds  us  from  superfluities,  the  nearer  to  Gospel  precept 
and  spirit. 

Thurs.,  Oct.  14. — .  .  .  Adjourned  Monthly  Meeting  to 
receive  J.  J.  Gurney's  intention  of  marriage  with  E.  P. 
Kirkbride ;  I  accompanied  them  into  the  meeting.  .  . 

Sat.,  Oct.  16. — Wrote  some  letters  of  tender  invitation  and 
exhortation  to  parties  (with)  whom  the  love  of  this  world  and 
its  captivating  maxims  and  influence  I  feared  obtained  a  sway 
beyond  the  limitations  which  the  Spirit  of  Christ  can  tabernacle 
with.  .  .  . 

Mon.,  Oct.  18. — This  day  completed  the  4i6th  week  since 
that  which  bereaved  me  of  heaven's  best  earthly  gift,  and  as 
in  deep  darkness  of  last  night  I  stood  by  her  grave,  and 
whilst  the  loud  stormy  wind  blew  heavily  on  me,  my  spirit 
had  some  sweet  sense  of  the  eternal  rest  .  .  .  and  some 
hope  was  granted  that  when  this  poor  frame  came  to  lay  like 
hers,  undisturbed  by  stormy  winds  or  time  or  cares,  our  Rest 
might  be  together  in  the  Lord.  Amen. 

Thurs.,  Oct.  21. — The  marriage  of  J.  J.  Gurney  and  E.  P. 
Kirkbride  very  agreeably  conducted.  .  .  . 

Fri.,  Oct.  22. — I  have  been  forcibly  impressed  with  what 
would  be  the  blessing  that  would  result  from  living  in  the  dis 
position  as  loving  our  neighbours  as  ourselves,  or  doing  unto 
others  as  we  would  they  should  do  unto  us  ;  how  all  hard 
thoughts  would  be  hushed,  how  every  action  which  had  its 
spring  in  selfishness  would  be  seen  to  destroy  that  harmony 
which  one  day  is  to  render  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  the 
Kingdom  of  the  Lord  and  his  Christ. 

Sat.,  Oct.  23. — Accompanied  Samuel  Gurney*  in  a  most 
interesting  journey  to  Ay  ton  by  way  of  Middlesbrough  ; 

*  Samuel  Gurney,  of  Upton,  born  1787,  died  1856,  a  partner  with 
Thomas  Richardson  and  John  Over  end,  and  an  Elder  in  the  Society  of 
Friends,  and  a  practical  philanthropist.  My  father  possessed  three 
excellent  portraits  in  oil  of  these  three  partners.  They  now  hang  in 
the  offices  of  Pease  and  Partners,  Darlington. 


i84  EDWARD  PEASE.  1841 

his  wish  was  to  see  cousin  Thomas  Richardson,  and  our  Agri 
cultural  School.  The  whole  day  appeared  to  be  much  enjoyed 
by  him ;  his  converse  was  truly  instructive  to  me,  his  generous 
and  charitable  deeds  united  with  true  Christian  principles 
seems  to  establish  him  in  my  mind  as  a  friend  and  brother 
beloved,  if  I  have  any  right  so  to  attach  myself  to  a  prince  of  a 
a  man. 

On  Sunday,  3ist  October,  he  hears  of  the  death 
of  his  "  dear  Cousin  Martha  Richardson"  at  eight  o'clock 
the  previous  evening  ;  he  speaks  of  her  generosity 
to  the  poor  and  benevolence,  and  he  goes  to  Ayton 
the  following  week  to  console  the  husband  (Thos. 
Richardson),  and  on  the  7th  November  attends  her 
funeral  at  Ayton. 

Wed.,  Nov.  10. — Yesterday  was  the  birthday  of  a  Son  to  our 
Queen  Victoria,  the  probable  King  of  these  realms — oh, 
unenviable  possession — sufficiently  large  the  humbled  Chris 
tian  will  feel  is  that  stewardship  which  the  Most  High  has 
committed  to  his  charge.  .  . 

Fri.,  Dec.  17. — Exceedingly  wearied  and  exhausted  in 
mind  with  long  conversations  and  considerations  on  railway 
affairs.  Inexpressibly  great  is  my  longing  that  my  dear  Sons 
and  myself  may  be  delivered  from  a  burthen  brought  upon  us 
by  once  unwatchfulness  in  entering  into  public  concerns. 
May  my  sons'  fetters  and  bonds  be  a  lasting  warning  to  our 
successors.  .  .  . 

Mon.,  Dec.  20. — .  .  .  When  I  contemplated  the  engage 
ments  of  my  three  dear  Sons  during  this  day,  my  heart's  desire 
was  that  they  should  all  be  employed  as  my  first  born  (John)  at 
Oxford  Select  Quarterly  Meeting,  but  my  second  (Joseph) 
was  at  Newcastle  respecting  Coals  ;  my  third  (Henry)  at 
Wolsingham  respecting  Railways — these  latter  may  be  needful 
and  useful  engagements,  but  a  too  much  divided  heart  ruffles 
the  tide  of  peace. 

Fri.,  24. — Went  to  Seaton  to  pay  for  the  erection,  finishing 
and  seating  the  Meeting-house  I  have  built  there  for  the  use 


Aet.  74  SEATON  MEETING  HOUSE.  185 

of  Friends  who  may  go  to  that  place  to  bathe.  As  a  small  part 
of  my  substance  dedicated  for  the  purpose  of  worshipping 
my  most  merciful  and  bounteous  Benefactor,  my  heart  most 
cheerfully  returns  back  for  His  own  homage  only  that  which 
is  his  Own.* 

On  Friday,  December  3ist,  he  sums  up  the  mercies 
of  the  past  year,  including  "uninterrupted  health  for 
the  last  six  years/'  with  the  usual  self-condemnatory 
remarks  as  to  the  use  he  has  made  of  his  time. 


*  The  popularity  of  Seaton  as  a  bathing  place  among  Friends 
may  be  gathered  from  the  following  note  I  find  in  Edward  Pease's 
papers. 

"At  Seaton,  Summer,  1841 — one  first  day. 

John  Pease.  Alfred    Backhouse.  Thos.    Atkinson. 

Sophia  Pease.  Edwd.   Backhouse,   Jr.  F.   Atkinson. 

Sophia    Pease,    Jr.  Emily    Backhouse.  W.  Benington. 

M.  A.  Pease.  John  Mounsey.  M.  Benington. 

Henry    Pease.  Lucy  Mounsey.  Benington. 

Jos.   Pease,   Jr.  Mounsey.  Bennington. 

Emma    Pease.  Jon.   Backhouse.  Bennington. 

"ane  G.   Pease.  H.  C.  Backhouse.  Geo.  Benington. 

.  W.  Pease.  J.  G.  Backhouse.  Benington. 

'.  G.  Pease.  Edmd.   Backhouse.  Benington. 

R.   Pease.  E.  P.  Kirkbride.  Benington. 

E.   S.   Pease.  F.  Bowron.  Benington. 

Edwd.   Pease,   Jr.  Grace  Jowitt.  S.  Janson. 

J.  H.  Pease.  G.  Jowitt,  Jr.  R.  Janson. 

A.    Pease.  Geo.  Fox.  Jas.  Cudworth. 

G.   Pease.  Reb.  Fox.  Thos.  Backhouse. 

A.    Pease.  Annie  Fox.  Mary   Backhouse. 

R.  Barclay.  A.   Harris.  Sarah  Backhouse. 

E  Payne.  R.   Harris.  Backhouse. 

Deborah   Hudson.  M.  Harris.  Backhouse. 

Ann   Mason.  C.   Harris.  James  Backhouse. 

Edward  Backhouse.  C.  Harris.  Benington     A.C. 

May   Backhouse.  M.  Atkinson.  Benington     A.C." 


CHAPTER  VI. 

1842. 

HE  begins  the  New  Year  with  a  religious  dedication. 
I  may  give  a  fragment  of  this  to  illustrate  his 
characteristic  style  of  expression  : — 

That  stream  of  time  which  will  roll  its  course  through  all 
the  events  of  the  present  year,  may  in  the  wisdom  of  my  Gra 
cious  Creator  remove  me  from  the  sight  of  men !  And  O 
happy  hour,  I  humbly  trust  join  me  to  those  dear  ones  already 
in  the  realms  of  purity,  who  were  blessings  to  me  here  whilst 
sojourners  and  fellow  pilgrims  on  the  footstool  of  Him,  before 
whom  Lebanon  is  insufficient  to  burn  and  its  beasts  an  in 
adequate  Sacrifice — adored  for  ever  be  His  Holy  Name. 

On  January  I2th  he  records  the  alarming  illness 
of  his  brother-in-law  (J.  Hustler),  and  speaks  of  the 
happiness  of  J.  Hustler's  first  marriage  with  his 
(E.  Pease's)  sister,  Elizabeth  (born  1770,  died  1806), 
and  says  the  second  marriage  was  for  twenty  years 
also  a  happy  one,  "  but  the  latter  years  of  his  life  have 
been  fraught  with  many  bitters  through  the  improper 
conduct  of  his  son,  the  loss  of  property,  etc."  On  the 
iQth  he  notes  J.  Hustler's  death. 

On  the  i8th  January  he  is  "  at  the  house  of  my 
Cousin  Wm.  Richardson,  of  York,"  and  speaks  of  his 
"  descent  from  affluence  and  ease  to  embarrassment 
and  great  straightness,"  and  adds,  "  He  has  preserved 
that  honourable  integrity  which  marks  the  tender 
conscienced  Christian,  unblemished." 

186 


Act.  75  CORN  LAW  AGITATION.  187 

On  the  26th  he  attends  the  funeral  in  a  "  howling 
tempest  "  at  York.  On  the  27th  he  goes  to  the 
funeral  "  of  Thos.  Pumphrey,  the  Superintendent," 
at  Ackworth  School.  On  the  28th  to  the  funeral  of  a 
"  dear  and  worthy  friend  in  the  station  of  an  Elder, 
Geo.  Smith,"  at  Stockton,  and  regrets  that  he  was 
unable  to  attend  the  funeral  at  Newcastle  "  to  sym 
pathise  with  my  dear  friend,  Daniel  Oliver,  whose 
dear  wife's  remains  were  this  day  committed  to  the 
dust  ...  a  worthy,  peaceable  woman  in  the 
station  of  an  elder.  She  died  in  a  good  old  age." 

On  the  3Oth  January,  Sunday,  he  writes  : 

This  day  a  son  of  John  FothergilTs  was  interred ;  his  life 
appeared  to  be  shortened  by  the  misleading  scruples  of  a 
sensitive  conscience  believing  it  wrong  to  clothe  himself 
sufficiently  for  the  season  and  to  take  that  nutritious  and 
suitable  food  which  his  constitution  required.  He  was  a  truly 
innocent  minded  youth,  and  greatly  fearing  to  offend  his 
Creator,  I  cannot  doubt  of  his  being  at  rest  in  Him. 

Wed.,  Feb.  2. — In  certain  circles  of  our  Society  resident  in 
London  there  appears  to  me  a  degree  of  excitement  endanger 
ing  the  sacrifice  of  some  of  our  testimonies  while  paying  atten 
tion  to  the  King  of  Prussia  now  in  England.  .  .  . 

Sat.,  Feb.  12. — "  The  present  agitation  of  the  Country  for  the 
abrogation  of  the  duty  on  imported  grain  may  be  said  to  be 
so  great  as  to  threaten  a  revolution.  Being  earnestly  solicited 
to  sign  a  petition  to  Parliament  as  emanating  and  confined 
to  Friends  of  this  place,  I  objected  thereto  as  recognising 
the  Meeting  for  Sufferings  as  the  representative  body  of  the 
Society,  and  proper  Organ  for  the  representation  of  the  views 
of  our  little  Church — Friends  petitioning  from  their  separate 
congregations  might  evince  dissonance  of  opinion,  which  as 
a  religious  community  it  ought  to  be  our  care  and  duty  to 
avoid. 

Sun.,  Feb.  13. — At  Stockton,  at  the  burial  of  Edward 

aged  about  forty-three.  Great  stability  and  religious  impres- 


i88  EDWARD  PEASE.  1842 

sions  in  advancing  life  bid  fair  for  rendering  him  a  useful  char 
acter  in  Society.  It  is  to  be  feared  that  indifferent  to  the 
visitations  of  divine  love  these  became  effaced,  a  love  of  un 
worthy  company  and  a  want  of  care  when  in  it,  caused  a  too 
free  use  of  liquor  and  this  with  some  indolence  might  cause  the 
sudden  extinction  of  life  by  Apoplexy  without  as  it  were,  a 
moment's  warning. 

This  week  he  again  expresses  his  dislike  of  Joseph's 
taking  so  much  interest  in  commercial  pursuits  and 
"  some  public  work,"  and  wishes  he  could  feel  "  the 
unworthiness  of  such  claims  on  his  time  and  the 
energies  of  his  fine  mind,  and  be  enabled  to  shake 
them  all  off." 

Tues.,  Mar.  i. — General  Meeting  of  the  North  of  England 
Railway  Company,  which  I  did  not  attend,  nor  have  I  for  the 
last  ten  years  attended  any  such  meetings,  fearing  to  have  my 
mind  (naturally  very  propense  to  such  concerns)  engrossed 
in  such  cares.  .  .  . 

The  following  is  a  very  unusually  strong  expression 
of  anti-clericalism. 

Mon.,  Mar.  7. — By  all  I  see,  and  hear,  and  read,  there 
appears  a  very  increased  desire  on  the  part  of  the  Clergy  to 
grasp,  aggrandise,  and  place  themselves  in  a  dominant  position, 
but  as  true  as  ever  the  words  were  spoken  to  the  high  priest 
"  God  shall  smite  thee  thou  whited  wall,"  so  I  believe  it  to  be 
in  the  Counsels  of  the  Highest,  He  will  smite  the  whited  wall 
of  English  prelacy  and  all  its  subaltern  dependants. 

Tues.,  Mar.  29. — Walked  through  the  Tunnel  [this  is 
Shildon  Tunnel,  the  first  railway  tunnel  in  the  world]  not 
passable  for  waggons.  Such  extensive  operations  and  new 
works  awaken  my  curiosity,  but  they  carry  no  peace,  comfort, 
or  solace  to  my  mind  ;  they  require  such  a  Grasp  of  mind  to 
undertake  and  complete  them  and  such  an  application  of  time 
and  talent  to  conduct  them  that  I  do  not  dare  to  judge  how  far 
the  Christian  should  be  engaged  in  them. 


Aet.  75  AYTON  SCHOOL.  189 

Through  this  year  he  takes  a  great  interest  in  the 
Agricultural  School  at  Ayton,  and  continually  records 
his  visits  there  and  his  pleasure  at  its  success.  He 
often  mentions  his  grandchildren  at  Southend  in  such 
entries  as  : 

Enjoyed  a  turn  out  with  my  ten  grandchildren  to  purchase 
some  sweets,  how  delightful  is  such  infantine  innocence. 

He  has  many  guests,  including  Cousin  Rachel 
Fowler,  for  several  weeks  "  a  cheerful,  instructive 
companion,"  and  "  Jas.  Cropper,  grandson  of  that 
worthy  so  well  known."  He  notices  the  weather,  and 
springtime  makes  him  sentimental,  and  almost  poetical. 
He  reads  a  little,  mentions  having  perused  copies  of 
"  my  late  Brother  Gurney's  letters  and  MS.  reflections/' 
and  says,  "  his  (i.e.,  Joseph  Gurney's)  understanding 
was  enlarged  ;  there  was  a  nobility  and  sincerity,  and 
penetration,  as  well  as  a  genuine  piety,  fraught  with 
fervent  charity,  which  marked  no  common  mind." 

In  April  he  finds  his  son  John  has  set  his  mind  on 
visiting  "the  few  Friends  at  Pyrmont,  Minden,  and  in 
the  South  of  France,"  and  though  he  remarks  he  is  in 
his  76th  year,  being  blessed  with  health  and  vigour, 
he  queries  whether  he  ought  not  to  go  too. 

He  visits  Birmingham,  stays  at  Farm,  where 
he  has  much  sympathy  for  his  "  dear  Cousin  Rachel 
Lloyd.  .  .  .  Her  husband,  who  ought  to  be  her 
consolation  and  support,  as  also  several  of  her  chil 
dren  .  .  .  have  forsaken  the  religion  of  their 
forefathers."  Then  he  goes  on  to  London  to  the 
Yearly  Meeting  on  the  i6th  May,  and  after  various 
visits,  returns  home  on  the  4th  June. 

Mon.t  June.  6. — Entered  with  my  three  dear  Sons  into 
a  serious  consideration  ...  as  regards  the  Mill  concerns, 
how  far  it  may  be  right  at  once  to  wind  up.  .  .  .  The  dis- 
stress  it  would  cause  to  the  poor  .  .  .  and  a  loss  of  £30,000 


igo  EDWARD  PEASE.  1842 

to  £40,000  to  the  family  appear  to  render  it  prudent  to  try 
another  year.  Seeing  that  it  is  the  will  of  my  good  Heavenly 
Father  that  wealth  should  so  elude  our  grasp  and  knowing 
how  alienating  great  possessions  are  I  cannot  mourn  or 
deplore  the  dispensation. 

Thur.,  Aug.  4. — Parted  with  home,  all  its  comforts,  endear 
ments  and  blessings,  to  accompany  my  dear  Son  John  in  his 
visit  to  Pyrmont,  Minden,  and  the  South  of  France  and  Gurnsey 
and  Jersey.  .  .  .  Arrived  in  London  .  .  .  and  had 
good  accommodations  at  the  Guildhall  Coffee  House. 

Fri.,  Aug.  5. — Attended  the  Meeting  for  Sufferings. 
.  .  .  The  address  to  the  Queen  which  was  agreed  on  by  the 
Yearly  Meeting  on  the  subject  of  war  had  not  been  presented 
and  it  appeared  that  her  ministers  placed  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  its  being  presented.  It  had  ever  been  the  privilege 
of  our  religious  Society  to  present  its  addresses  to  the  Sovereign 
either  in  the  closet  or  on  the  throne.  Spent  the  afternoon  in 
collecting  books,  obtaining  our  passports,  etc. 

August  loth  to  I3th — in  Belgium. 

August  I3th  to  loth  September — in  Prussia  and 
France.* 

September  I2th  to  loth  October — in  France. 

He  then,  after  travelling  2,500  miles,  hurries  home 
to  attend  the  interment  of  "  Jonathan  Backhouse, 
who  died  in  his  63rd  year,"  and  adds  : 

My  clear  recollection  of  attending  his  father's  marriage  with 
my  Aunt  Ann  Pease  gives  me  a  view  of  human  changes  and 
the  flight  of  time. 

This  was  in  1774,  when  Edward  Pease  was  seven  years 
old. 

During  December  this  year  it  seems  Henry  Pease 
was  considering  the  question  of  asking  the  hand  of 
"Cousin  J.M.B."  in  marriage. 

*  Extracts  from  an  interesting  letter  of  Edward  Pease  written 
from  Minden  in  August,  are  given  in  Appendix  XIII. 


Aet.  75  A  BAD  ACCIDENT.  191 

Sun.,  Dec.  25. — Accompanying  the  remains  of  a  poor  but 
pious  man  not  a  member  of  our  Society,  Major  Shout,  to  the 
last  earthly  abode  we  (Sophia  Pease  and  myself)  were  met  by 
dear  Joseph  with  the  distressing  announcement  that  his  dear 
brother  John  (Sophia's  husband)  had  fallen  at  the  Euston 
station  and  broken  his  thigh.  Almost  oversetting  as  the 
deeply  afflicting  tidings  were  we  concluded  to  go  to  meeting. 
.  .  .  We  left  home  that  afternoon  to  be  in  London  early 
next  morning. 

This  was  a  very  bad  accident,  a  compound 
comminuted  fracture,  and  nearly  cost  John  his  life. 
Though  weights  on  a  pulley  on  his  bedfoot  were  long 
attached  to  the  foot  in  order  to  prevent  the  leg  from 
being  shorter  than  the  other,  this  treatment  was  not 
quite  successful,  for,  as  I  can  well  recollect,  he  walked 
with  a  limp  to  the  end  of  his  life. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

1843- 

THE  New  Year  begins  with  entries  about  John's 
condition  and  progress  towards  recovery.  As  illus 
trating  the  life  of  the  Quakerism  of  this  period, 
an  entry  made  on  Sunday,  8th  of  January,  may  be 
given  : — 

Passed  this  forenoon  with  my  dear  Son  in  silence  but  twice 
interrupted ;  we  mutually,  I  believe,  remembered  Him  to  Whom 
we  owe  life,  breath,  and  all  things. 

The  26th  January  finds  him  at  Belmont  with  the 
Fells  (his  son  Henry's  boy,  Henry  Fell  Pease,  was 
then  apparently  living  with  his  grandparents,  Richard 
and  Mary  Fell).  He  speaks  of  his 

dear  little  grandson,  Henry  Fell  Pease,  a  lovely  child,  yet  some 
thing  in  his  sweet  countenance  affects  me  as  indicative  either 
of  a  sickly  diseased  frame,  if  life  is  continued,  or  the  greater 
probability  that  divine  wisdom  may  see  meet  to  cut  existence 
short.  The  divine  will  is  perfect  wisdom  and  kindness. 

His  son  (Joseph)  has  written  under  this  "  Faithless  !  " 
which  was  not  very  respectful.  Henry  Fell  Pease 
grew  up  to  be  a  tall  handsome  man,  and  enjoyed 
on  the  whole  excellent  health.  He  describes  the  2ist 
March  as  "  a  day  of  more  importance  "  to  him  "  than 
words  can  convey,"  for  his  son  John  has  declared  his 
intention  of  visiting  Friends  in  America.  "  To  part 
with  him,"  he  says,  "  is  like  parting  with  his  eye  or 

192 


Act.  76  "  OLD  RETAINERS."  193 

right  hand,  but  the  Lord  gave,  and  the  Lord  taketh 
away  ;  blessed  be  the  name  of  His  holy  name." 
The  next  day  he  discharges  "  a  duty  to  his  dear  brother* 
which  I  felt  would  be  wounding  to  my  peace 
to  withhold  ;  he  denied  the  correctness  of  the  report 
I  had  heard  as  regards  his  want  of  temperance  on  one 
occasion.  Although  this  is  not  my  infirmity,  yet  .  ." 

My  father-in-law,  the  late  Sir  Robert  N.  Fowler, 
of  Gastard,  had  a  tale  of  this  Joseph  Pease  making 
a  long  journey  to  Falmouth  to  propose  to  one  of  the 
Cornish  Foxes,  and  going  to  dine  at  George  Fox's 
at  two  o'clock.  The  story  went  that  the  meeting 
with  the  lady  and  proposal  was  to  come  off  the  same 
afternoon,  but  after  dinner  he  found  the  port  so  much 
to  his  taste  that  one  glass  followed  another  ;  then  he 
fell  asleep,  and  only  woke  up  in  the  evening,  and  the 
time  had  gone  by  that  had  been  fixed  for  him  to  present 
himself.  The  lady  was  deeply  offended,  and  he  re 
turned  to  the  North  without  even  seeing  her. 

On  April  ist,  after  "  reading,"!  he  considers  his 
duty  towards  his  "  domestics,  whose  attentions 
to  me  and  good  services  make  them  worthy  of  my 
regard  ;  some  of  them  have  been  long  my  inmates." 
These  indoor  servants  number  four,  under  his  house 
keeper,  Abigail  Thorp.  Jos.  Gatenby  has  been  with 
him  four  years,  Sarah  Ventress  about  fifteen  years, 
and  the  others,  Mary  and  Sarah  Pounder,  some  time. 

*  This,  I  think,  was  Joseph  Pease,  of  Feethams,  who  had  the 
character  of  being  rather  fond  of  his  port. 

f  "  Reading."  In  Friends'  families,  as  I  can  recollect,  morning 
family  worship  consisted  of  reading  the  Scriptures  either  before  or 
after  breakfast,  with  or  without  the  household  present,  generally 
followed  by  a  silence  of  some  five  minutes  duration,  very  rarely  with 
prayers.  Occasionally  a  visiting  minister  or  the  head  of  the  family 
might  offer  a  prayer,  in  which  case  those  present  all  stood  up.  I 
remember  that  when  my  grandfather,  Joseph  Pease,  attended  our  family 
prayers  when  staying  at  Hutton,  he  always  stood  up  during  prayers, 
though  we  all  knelt. 

15 


194  EDWARD  PEASE.  1843 

Tues.,  April  18. — Our  Monthly  Meeting  held  at  Staindrop. 
.  .  .  Two  disownments,  John  Coates  and  Thomas  Nevill.  An 
application  from  Caleb  Brown  to  be  restored  to  membership 
and  the  same  from  Thomas  Pease  on  behalf  of  himself  and 
three  children,  two  applications  from  Friends  under  convince- 
ment  were  concluded  to  be  read,  they  having  been  some  time 
under  consideration.* 

Fri.,  April  21. — Attended  a  public  meeting  in  the  Methodist 
Chapel  to  oppose  Sir  Jas.  Grame's  Factory  Bill ;  dissenters  of 
every  denomination  were  present  and  some  of  each  denomina 
tion  except  Romanists  took  a  part  with  great  cordiality  and 
unanimity.  Extremely  unjust  and  oppressively  unconstitu 
tional  as  the  Bill  is,  I  hail  its  production  with  great  pleasure 
as  it  has  given  a  tone  and  unison  to  the  dissenting  interest 
which  it  had  not  before  attained  to  and  from  which  I  believe 
beneficial  results  will  be  seen. 

Tues.,  April  25. — At  Ayton  School  Committee  with  Louise 
Seebohm.  .  .  .  Cousins  Isaac  Wilson  and  his  two  sons 
John  and  Isaac  here  (Middlesbrough)  on  their  troublesome 
pottery  concerns,  f  in  which  they  have  got  deeply  involved,  and 
my  beloved  son  Joseph  by  his  over  kindness  has  not  only  sus 
tained  grievous  loss,  but  great  perplexity  from  the  reviling 
of  some  who  owe  him  the  greatest  gratitude. 

*This  Thomas  Pease  would  be  Thomas  Pease,  born  1786,  and  his 
children,  Edward  Thomas  Pease,  born  1827,  Margaretta  Selfe  Pease, 
born  1828,  and  Martha  Pease,  born  1831. 

f  This  Middlesbrough  Pottery  was  carried  on  till  about  1882 
under  the  name  of  Isaac  Wilson  &  Co.,  and  had  long  been  the  property 
of  my  father  or  his  family,  though  managed  by  one  of  the  Wilson 
family.  It  was  continued  partly  in  the  hope  of  becoming  a  profitable 
business,  partly  through  the  reluctance  to  throw  men  out  of  work, 
and  partly  for  the  sake  of  the  Wilson  family,  who  had  founded  the 
concern.  My  father  asked  me  to  look  into  the  business  about  1881, 
and  I  saw  that  it  would  continue  to  be  a  continual  source  of  loss  and 
worry,  and  that  even  a  large  additional  expenditure  of  capital  would 
not  insure  any  profitable  result.  So  my  father  decided  to  close,  and 
faced  a  very  heavy  loss  in  the  winding-up.  In  its  day  it  turned  out  a 
great  deal  of  good  china  and  earthenware.  About  the  time  this  con 
cern  came  to  an  end  the  Linthorpe  Pottery  was  started  at  Middles 
brough,  and  though  the  excellence  of  designs  and  the  quality  and 
artistic  colouring  of  its  ware  made  a  great  and  deserved  reputation 
for  the  Linthorpe  Pottery,  the  business  proved  unremunerative,  and 
was  abandoned. 


Act.  76  NARROW  VIEWS.  195 

Wed.,  April  26. — Some  trouble  with  a  troublesome  man  at 
Seaton — saw  how  I  could  give  trouble  in  return  ;  at  one 
time  thought  I  would  do  so  but  my  Heavenly  Master  forbids 
me  and  all  who  desire  the  sweet  sunshine  of  His  favour  to  do 
thus  but  by  a  reverse  course  to  heap  coals  of  fire  on  the  head 
of  my  adversary.  This  mode  of  melting  down  evil  would,  I 
believe,  tend  to  the  refining  of  both  parties. 

The  following  is  another  illustration  of  what  would 
now  be  considered  extremely  narrow  views  and  of  the 
diarist's  pedantic  style  (May  6th)  : 

More  and  more  convinced  of  the  desirableness  and  necessity 
of  increased  carefulness  in  members  of  our  religious  society 
uniting  themselves  with  popular  associations  for  effecting 
what  may  appear  the  most  benevolent  and  philanthropic 
purposes, — the  commencing  individuals  may  be  very  pure  in 
their  intentions,but  gathered  numbers  are  not  easily  controlled. 
Many  who  subscribed  to  the  Corn  Law  League  would  have 
shrunk  from  it  if  they  could  have  conceived  that  a  part  of  its 
funds  would  have  been  applied  to  contest  elections. 

Apparently  he  has  an  attack  of  gout  in  his  left 
foot  so  long  that  he  begins  to  think  "  it  will  remain 
the  same  to  the  end  of  my  pilgrimage."  "  It  disap 
points  me  in  abridging  my  walking  powers,  which  I 
much  enjoyed." 

Tues.,  May  16. — Having  received  a  letter  from  my  brother, 
surprizing  full  of  care  and  affection  for  my  Sons  and  myself — 
unintelligible  as  its  professions  must  be,  seeing  he  has  not 
entered  my  doors  more  than  once  the  last  twelvemonths — 
I  answered  it  most  copiously. 

Thurs.,  May  18. — In  the  afternoon  had  an  interview 
in  company  with  Ralph  Dixon  and  George  Fox  with  cousin 
Thomas  Pease  and  Son,  on  their  request  to  be  received  into 
membership. 

He  attends  the  London  Yearly  Meeting  and  ends 
with  a  quaint  entry  on  June  2nd  : 


196  EDWARD  PEASE.  1843 

Our  very  harmonious  Yearly  Meeting  closed  this  day: 
the  last  sitting  was  marrd  and  clouded  by  some  Friends 
whose  spirits  had  not  been  leavened.  ...  An  anxiety 
manifested  by  one  Friend  that  the  Society  should  think 
it  right  to  bestir  themselves  for  the  exercise  of  universal 
suffrage,  by  another  that  exertions  to  promote  the  Corn 
Law  League,  and  by  another  that  the  cause  of  total  abstinence 
should  be  more  promoted  by  Friends,  and  by  another  that 
the  cause  of  the  slaves  was  not  sufficiently  carried  out,  and 
all  tended  to  waste  our  solemnity. 

In  June  he  spends  some  time  reading  the  "  sweet  " 
diary  "  of  her  who  was  as  great  a  visible  treasure  as 
ever  man  was  blessed  with.  .  .  .  This  diary 
commenced  in  the  twenty-fifth  year  of  her  age  to 
record  the  breakings  and  prayer  of  her  pious  soul.  .  ."* 

Fn.t  July  7. — This  the  day  fixed  for  the  remains  of  my 
beloved  Aunt  Abbot  f  being  committed  to  the  silent  grave. 
Hers  was  a  life  of  very  remarkable  utility  in  every  respect  as 
a  minister,  a  mother  to  four  successive  sets  of  orphans.  .  .  . 

He  then  mentions  her  age  as  eighty-four,  and  his 
warm  gratitude  to  her  for  having  watched  over  and 
cared  for  his  wife  Rachel,  when  left  an  orphan. 

Sun. ,  July  30.—  ...  It  may  be  the  last  (meeting)  in 
which  I  may  be  permitted  to  sit  under  the  anointed  ministry 
of  my  precious  son.  ...  He  honestly  declared  how  he  had 
observed  those  deviations  in  dress  and  address  to  lead  into 
further  alienation  from  the  power  and  influence  of  the  Spirit  of 
Christ.  .  . 

The  next  day  the  family  parts  with  John  (who 
is  now  bound  for  America).  "  It  was  accomplished 
with  many  tears."  On  the  3rd  he  goes  on  board  the 

*  The  diary  apparently  destroyed  by  Edward  Pease. 

f  Aunt  Abbot — Sarah  Abbot,  nit  Wilson,  a  sister  of  Dorothy  Wilson, 
the  mother  of  Rachel  Pease. 


Act.  76  REVISES  HIS  WILL.  197 

vessel  Hibernia,  at  Liverpool,  to  see  the  last  of  John, 
who  sails  the  next  day  for  Halifax,  and  gives  him  a 
final  blessing.  He  returns  home  and  writes,  "  how 
saddened,  how  silent  and  bereft  East  Mount  seemed." 

Fri.,  Aug.  18. — With  nine  of  my  dear  grandchildren 
went  from  Seaton  to  Eston  Nab*  (and  a  large  party  of  relations). 
We  admired  the  beauties  of  Wilton  Castle  before  we  ascended 
the  toilsome  height ;  the  fog  nearly  obscured  all  distant  pros 
pect,  the  heat  was  great.  Our  refreshing  and  enjoyment  in 
the  Group  was  obvious — perhaps  thus  to  see  the  beauties  of 
the  all-creative  hand  was  allowable.  He  pronounced  that  all 
was  very  good,  and  I  believe  given  to  his  creatures  richly  and 
fully  to  enjoy. 

Mon.,  Aug.  21. — Went  a  party  of  twenty,  nine  grandchildren, 
in  a  steamer  to  Steaths  [written  as  Staithes  is  pronounced]. 
The  day  was  fine,  the  excursion  interesting  and  pleasing,  but 
should  opportunities  of  the  like  kind  to  these  recent  pleasure 
tours  occur,  I  think  I  shall  not  be  free  to  join  in  them  to 
spend  so  much  money  which,  if  resolved  to  be  given  to  the 
poor,  would  alleviate  so  many  wants  . 

These  two  entries  suffice  to  show  what  extra 
ordinary  limits  were  set  on  innocent  pleasure  by  the 
Quakerism  of  this  time.  Here  is  one  of  rather  a  differ 
ent  kind,  but  equally  suggestive  :  — 

Thurs.,  Sept.  7. — As  heretofore  when  employing  myself 
in  eradicating  Nettles  and  Thistles  from  my  fields,  an  inward 
review  of  how  these  offensive  weeds  had  similar  product  in  my 
heart  I  was  anxious  to  find  them  all  out,  etc. 

On  the  gth  September  he  is  again  revising  his 
will,  and  goes  through  his  property.  His  real  estate 
he  divides  into  shares  ;  to  his  daughters  he  gives 
£3,000  in  cash  each,  and  "  the  reversion  of  personal 
estate  equally  divided  among  my  sons." 

*  This  was  rather  a  remarkable  walk  for  a  man  77  years  old,  on  a 
hot  day. 


ig8  EDWARD  PEASE.  1843 

On  the  1 2th  September  he  attends  a  large  annual 
meeting  of  the  Bible  Society,  and  notes 

The  conduct  of  the  Clergy  in  this  district  in  taking  no  part 
in  the  circulation  of  the  holy  scriptures  through  this  most 
valuable  Society,  in  my  estimation  condemns  them  in  a  want  of 
sincerity  of  desire  to  spread  the  knowledge  of  the  Gospel  in 
the  World  and  not  being  true  and  sincere  in  the  cause  they 
pretend  to  advance. 

I  can  remember  the  Rector  of  Guisbrough  refusing 
to  countenance  the  Bible  Society  because  my  father, 
a  Quaker,  was  asked  to  preside,  and  dissenters  were 
present  at  such  meetings.  Yet  he  was  a  kind, 
sincere  and  religious  man,  and  in  later  years  changed 
his  attitude  on  such  matters. 

On  the  2ist  September  he  visits  the  Retreat  at 
York, 

where  I  felt  the  very  humiliating,  mysterious  condition  to 
which  humanity  is  liable.  Yet  great  was  the  comfort  in 
contemplating  the  indescribable  utility  of  this  institution  in 
spreading  a  gentle  hand  to  poor  Lunatics. 

This  month  he  travels  with  Hannah  C.  Backhouse 
to  Stowe-on-Trent,  Newcastle-under-Lyme,  Hanley, 
Stoke,  Burton-on-Trent,  Leek,  Sunderland,  and  other 
places. 

Wed.,  Oct.  ii. — That  there  is  no  resurrection  of  the 
body  but  that  the  soul  has  no  affinity  to  it  at  the  hour 
of  death,  but  immediately  enters  on  its  appointed  state  may 
we  not  gather  from  words  pronounced  to  the  expiring  male 
factor,  "  This  day  shalt  thou  be  with  Me  in  Paradise." 

Cold,  frosty  and  stormy.  Many  ships  on  shore  at  Tees 
mouth. 

Thurs.,  Oct.  17. — Went  with  my  Son  Joseph  and 
Cousin  Josiah  Forster  up  the  unfinished  Weardale  Railway 
as  far  as  my  brother  Coates'  paternal  estate,  Smelt  House. 
.  .  .  To  see  this  habitation  of  forefathers  was  interesting 


Aet.  76  A  RAILWAY  OPENING.  199 

to  me  as  having  been  the  spot  where,  about  sixty-seven  years 
ago,  I  spent  some  enjoyable  days.     .     .     . 

There  are  many  entries  this  year  referring  to  his  wife, 
now  dead  ten  years.  Some  are  beautiful  eulogies  of  her. 

Wed.,  Nov.  8. — Walked  up  to  see  those  who  had 
assembled  to  celebrate  the  opening  of  the  Auckland  and 
Weardale  Railway.  The  increase  of  national  improvements 
interests  me.  In  this  there  was  to  me  some  painful  alloy 
from  my  two  dear  Sons  participating  in  that  .  .  .  which 
is  at  entire  variance  with  that  seriousness  which  becomes  the 
Friend  or  the  Christian.  I  mean  that  drinking  of  healths  and 
toasts  which  is  followed  often  by  unmeaning  speeches  and  those 
maddening  huzzas  which  better  become  the  Lunatick  than 
the  man  of  sober  sense,  etc. 

Mon.,  Nov.  13. — Attended  a  meeting  of  the  Turnpike 
Commissioners.  Their  adverse  feeling  towards  railways 
proves  their  limited  powers  of  estimating  public  improve 
ments 

Wed.,  Dec.  6. — We  had  yesterday  another  application 
for  membership  (a  William  Pease).  It  is  remarkable  how 
many  are  drawn  to  Friends  at  this  time.  .  .  . 

Thurs.,  Dec.  14. — My  cousin  Maria  Backhouse's  marriage 
with  Isaac  Bigland,  of  Liverpool.  The  meeting  rather  large. 
The  ministerial  labour  on  James  and  H.  C.  Backhouse,  the 
communication  of  the  latter  singular,  "  Husbands  love  your 
wives  and  be  not  bitter  against  them."  My  mind  could  not 
rest  the  Subject  on  any  one.  There  is  often  a  mystery  in 
ministry. 

The  end  of  the  year  is  full  of  anxiety  about  his 
daughter  Rachel,  at  Bristol.  He  also  visits  Liverpool, 
and  attends  there  the  funeral  of  his  dear  Cousin,  Eliza 
Robson,  of  whom  he  says  :  — 

Few  characters  have  been  more  devoted  or  have  more 
dedicated  all  that  was  given  her  of  outward  comfort  to  enjoy. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

1844. 

Thurs.,  Jan.  n. — If  ever  these  notes  are  read  by 
any  of  my  beloved  descendants  or  any  poor  Christian  pilgrim 
whose  face  is  set  Zionward,  let  him  be  informed  that  much  of 
the  writer's  path  in  life  has  been  a  walk  by  faith  and  not  by 
sight,  and  far  below  the  extent  of  his  desires  have  been  the 
cheering  and  enlivening  perceptions  of  the  influence  of  the 
spirit  of  my  Redeemer,  yet  alike  good  in  what  He  gives  as  in 
what  He  withholds,  saith  my  soul,  and  thanks  be  to  His  mercy 
and  goodness  in  that  He  keeps  alive  in  me  the  sense  of  His 
being  my  only  hope  of  Glory.  .  .  . 

He  is  away  all  January  (at  Bristol,  etc.),  and  returns 
home  February  I4th.  On  the  i6th  he  hears  with 
deep  regret  that  his 

Cousin  Mary  Wilson,  who  is  likely  soon  to  be  married  to  John 
Harris,  has  been  baptised, 

Men.,  Feb.  19. — Visited  my  cousin  Anna  Back 
house  [nee  Gurney,  a  daughter  of  Joseph  John  Gurney,  by  his 
first  wife,  nee  Jane  Birkbeck],  a  pleasant  friendly  young 
woman  ;  in  attire,  I  saw  with  concern  what  I  see  in  the 
habitations  of  my  dear  friends,  a  wide  departure  from  that 
simplicity,  etc. 

Fri.,  Feb.  23. — Cousin  T.  Richardson  spent  much 
of  this  day  with  me.  Let  me  see  his  will ;  one  mass  of  bene 
volence  and  kindness.  I  have  no  doubt  of  his  just  intentions, 
but  I  fear  he  has  left  his  own  near  relations  too  much  out  of 
sight.  ...  I  conclude  to  write  him  hereon. 


JANK    (U'RXKY    FOX    (/;<v    H.xcKHorsK). 
Wile  of   Robert  Barclay  Kox,  first-cousin  of   Kduard  Pease. 

From  an  old  miniature  in  the  possession  of  Sir  Alfred  K.  Pease, 

being  a  copy  of  the  portrait  in  the  possession  of  her  eldest  son, 

Robert  Fox,  of  Grove  Hill  and  Penjerrick,  Falmouth. 


Aet.  77  A  FAMILY  GATHERING.  201 

Sun.,  Feb.  25. — Forenoon  Meeting.  Some  expression 
from  Mary  Smith  appeared  to  have  some  kindling 
effect  on  dear  worthy  H.  C.  B.  I  cannot  divest  my  mind  of 
fear  when  ministers  take  hold  of  what  has  gone  before.  Named 
these  fears  to  H.  C.  B. 

Wed.,  Feb.  28. — Had  that  degree  of  pleasure  and  comfort 
in  seeing  my  dear  Sons  Joseph  and  Henry  and  my  dear 
daughter  (Emma)  with  their  eleven  children  and  dear  John's 
two,  surrounding  my  table.  Their  happy  healthy  countenances 
seemed  to  make  my  heart  leap  with  grateful  joy.  .  .  . 

Sat.,  Mar.  2. — My  fears  for  some  days  have  been  on  the 
increase  that  members  of  our  religious  society  are  in  danger 
of  getting  and  doing  harm  by  too  closely  allying  themselves  to 
and  espousing  the  total  abstinence  cause — if  it  creates  any  sense 
of  self  importance — any  apprehension  of  being  further  on  the 
heavenly  way  and  disesteem  for  the  aged  or  any  want  of  the 
fulness  of  Brotherly  love,  dispositions  are  awakened  at  variance 
with  pure  Christian  love  and  Unity. 

On  Tues.,  March  5,  he  attends,  as  he  frequently 
does,  Ayton  School  Committee  and  goes  on  to 
Osmotherly  and  visits  Friends  there.  "  I  wish  the  poor 
of  this  world  who  reside  there  were  more  rich  in  faith," 
he  writes. 

Sat.  Mar.  9. — Barclay  Fox  is  here  and  likely  to  gain  my 
amiable  cousin  Jane  G.  Backhouse ;  on  her  part  it  seems  to  me 
to  be  a  choice  of  taste.  I  question  its  being  one  of  that  sound 
judgment  which  might  have  placed  her  in  a  position  where 
she  might  have  more  usefully  rendered  services.  .  .  .  . 
May  He  Who  directs  all  ...  make  this  union  as 
replete  with  happiness,  etc. 

Sat.,  Mar.  16. — Considerable  excitement  prevails  from  an 
apprehension  that  all  the  coal  miners  in  the  kingdom  are  going 
to  strike  early  next  month.  .  .  Government  have  pro 
posed  to  send  two  Pieces  of  Cannon  to  Bishop  Auckland,  which 
my  Son  Joseph  has  dissuaded  them  from.  Joseph  and  Emma 
returned  from  London. 


202  EDWARD  PEASE.  1844 

A  few  days  later  he  expresses  a  "  loathing  "  and 
"  fear  "  of  increasing  his  earthly  possessions,  and 
hopes  he  is  becoming  "  more  and  more  willing  to 
distribute." 

Accumulation  of  wealth  in  every  family  known  to  me  in 
our  Society  carries  away  from  the  purity  of  our  principles,  adds 
toil  and  care  to  life  and  greatly  endangers  the  possession  of 
heaven  at  last,  and  to  lose  this  what  is  all  this  world  has  to 
bestow. 

April  17.—  .  .  .  Wrote  to  Samuel  Rhodes,  near 
Philadelphia,  expressive  of  my  desire  that  his  conscientious 
disuse  of  the  produce  of  Slave  labour  and  his  advocacy  of 
their  emancipation  and  the  union  of  his  views  with  the  Seceders 
in  Indiana  might  be  mixed  with  patience,  brotherly  kindness, 
forbearance  and  charity. 

Mon. ,  May  6. — How  often  we  hear  the  remark  that  if  there 
be  conspicuous  talents,  they  are  generally  descended  from  the 
mother's  side,  and  how  clearly  I  can  trace  every  lovely  dis 
position  in  my  descendants  to  the  piety,  virtue,  training, 
teaching  and  excellence,  to  her  who  gave  them  birth,  while 
I  have  to  look  on  myself  with  great  contempt  as  having  neither 
the  gifts  of  nature  nor  profited  so  by  those  of  grace,  etc. 

Mon.,  June  10. — Received  the  last  affectionate  memento  of 
dearly  Belov'd  Aunt  Abott  in  a  Legacy  of  £100  less  the  duty. 
I  trust  it  may  be  honouring  her  memory  rather  than  add  it  to 
my  stock  to  give  it  all  away,  £75  already  given. 

The  day  before  in  meeting 

dearly  lov'd  cousin  William  Backhouse  expired  at  my  feet, 
and  it  appeared  to  me  his  heart  ceased  instantly  to  beat. 

On  the  I4th  he  goes  to  the  funeral : — 

The  whole  town  might  seem  to  bear  testimony  to  the  estimate 
of  his  worth.      Every  shop  was  closed. 


Act.  77  EXTREME  SIMPLICITY.  203 

Sat.,  Aug.  3. — A  letter  from  my  dear  friend  J.  J.  Gurney 
tells  me  he  has  removed  a  considerable  number  of  pictures  from 
his  Ante-room,  and  been  concerned  to  make  other  changes  in 
his  dwelling  more  in  accordance  with  the  simplicity  which  the 
spirit  of  Christ  leads  into.  .  .  How  desirable  that  such 
changes  should  first  commence  among  our  most  wealthy 
friends. 

On  the  gth  August  he  says  he  is  thankful  that  the 
prospects  of  increase  or  reduction  in  his  property 
create  in  him  no  solicitude  beyond  that  which  attaches 
to  his  sons,  and  trusts  that 

nothing  may  arise  to  introduce  them  deeply  into  the  surfeiting 
cares  of  this  world. 

Wed.,  Aug.  21. — Went  with  D.  and  A.  Clarke  to  meeting  at 
Guisbrough,  and  in  the  evening  at  Ayton  .  .  our  friend 
D.  C.  speaks  more  loud  than  any  friend  I  have  heard  except 
the  late  Samuel  Alexander.  It  has  not  been  my  lot  whilst 
out  with  these  friends  to  be  greatly  refreshed,  etc. 

He  is  perpetually  concerned  about  his  son  Joseph; 
he  says  his  engagements  are  so  numerous  and  such 
a  host  depend  on  his  "  capacious  mind  "  and  leading, 
that  if  he  were  to  die  "  where  is  the  understanding  that 
could  carry  his  load."  He  considers  that  the 
"  claims  of  the  lovely  family  he  is  blessed  with  "  are 
too  much  neglected.  He  follows  his  eldest  son  John's 
movements  in  America  very  closely,  and  with  much 
more  approval. 

Oct.,  Fri.  4. — It  is  now  in  my  heart  to  keep  my  heart  more 
alive  and  my  purse  more  open  for  purposes  of  benevolence 
and  kindness  to  Friends  and  persons.  I  owe  much,  I  have 
received  much,  may  my  future  renderings  be  more  commen 
surate  with  what  becomes  me  ;  as  one  that  has  been  prospered 
beyond  all  he  ever  did  ask  or  think. 


204  EDWARD  PEASE.  1844 

Wed.,  Oct.  9. — My  dear  friends  Elizabeth  Fox  and  her 
daughter  came  to  be  inmates  for  a  few  days.  .  . 

I  insert  this  as  marking  an  early  friendship  between 
the  families  of  Pease  and  Fox.  Among  the  various 
articles  that  have  descended  to  me  from  my  grand 
father  is  an  old  silver  snuff-box,  dated  1766,  which  once 
belonged  to  a  George  Croker  Fox,  who  married  1749, 
Mary  Were — another  proof  of  old  acquaintance. 

Thurs.,  Oct.  10. — The  wedding  day  of  my  dear  cousin 
J  ane  G.  Backhouse  to  Robert  Barclay  Fox*  .  .  . 

Thurs.,  Oct.  ii. — Indescribably  bright  and  pleased  are  our 
dear  Falmouth  friends  with  the  marriage  solemnized  yesterday. 

Sat.,  Oct.  12. — Increasing  is  the  desire  in  my  mind  .  .  . 
that  I  and  all  may  be  careful  not  to  purchase  or  provide  for 
the  luxurious  accommodation  of  self  or  for  the  gratification 
of  the  vain  mind  in  our  furniture  ;  shunning  as  much  as 
possible  all  decorations. 

Mon.,  Oct.  14. — [The  Foxes  leave  him].  Their  company 
has  been  sweet  to  me  Her  [Elizabeth  Fox]  gentle  spirit 
cherished  warmly  the  love  of  the  brethren.  .  .  A  sweet  call 
this  evening  from  John  Hodgkin  ;  our  converse  was  serious  in 
its  bearing,  with  much  unison  of  opinions  and  views. 

Thurs.,  Oct.  17. — Called  on  the  Duke  of  Cleveland  with  my 
son  Joseph,  to  obtain  an  extension  of  Friends'  burying  ground. 
.  .  .  .  Also  to  extend  the  width  of  the  road  up  Conscliffe 
Lane  opposite  to  my  son  Joseph's  property  (Southend).  .  . 

Fri.,  Oct.  25. — Was  at  Middlesbrough;  its  increase,  bustle, 
population  and  the  number  of  vessels  excited  my  surprize, 
and  though  it  afforded  me  satisfaction  to  see  so  much  employ 
ment  and  so  much  comfort  for  the  various  classes  of  the 
inhabitants,  yet  underneath  I  felt  .  .  a  concern  and  appre- 

*  Robert  Barclay  Fox  died  at  Cairo  in  1855  and  his  wife  died  1860, 
leaving  four  sons,  Robert,  George  Croker,  Henry  and  J  oseph  Gurney  Fox 
and  one  daughter,  Jane  Hannah  Backhouse  Fox. 


Aet.  77  BENJAMIN   FLOUNDERS.  205 

hension  that  all  this  was  produced  by  the  exertions  of  my 
precious  Son  Joseph's  untiring  mind,  and  fears  are  mine  that  too 
much  of  his  time  and  heaven  granted  talents,  etc.  .  . 

Fri.,  Nov.  15. — The  Stockton  and  Darlington  Railway 
are  now  opening  some  iron  foundry  works  at  Middlesbrough, 
and  several  Friends  are  about  to  be  employed  as  managers  and 
workmen  so  that  the  erection  of  a  Meeting-house  is  spoken  of, 
.  Except  the  Lord,  build,  keep  and  watch  the  city, 
vain  is  all  human  effort. 

Tues.,  Dec.  10. — In  looking  to  the  close  of  Life — to  joining 
those  beloved  ones  who  sleep  in  Jesus  but  whose  remains  are 
now  included  in  and  covered  by  parent  earth — I  view  the 
passing  away  of  all  the  enjoyments  of  time,  and  they  have  been 
exceedingly  largely  given  to  me,  without  regret  or  a  desire  for 
a  prolonged  existence.  Hopes  of  Eternal  life  and  Gratitude  of 
Soul  are  the  merciful  feelings  which  are  permitted  to  be  mine. 

Fri.,  Dec.  20. — Great  stir  and  efforts  are  making  to  promote 
the  total  abstinence  cause  ;  and  useful  efforts  they  are  when 
any  habits  of  intemperance  or  frequent  drinking  have  obtained ; 
but  to  him  who  has  followed  the  law  of  Christ  there  appears 
to  me  to  be  no  need  to  proceed  beyond  the  Counsel  of  his  Will 
as  inwardly  revealed — the  spirit  of  his  Gospel  or  the  practise 
of  his  spotless  example  ought,  as  lived  up  to,  satisfy  the  most 
ardent  total  abstinence  advocate. 

Sat.,  Dec.  28. — Went  to  Yarm  to  see  B.  Flounders  in  regard 
to  the  settlement  of  his  will,  which  he  was  desirous  should  be 
made  conveying  his  estates  in  trust  for  certain  charitable 
and  educational  purposes.  My  apprehensions  are  his  feeble 
health  considered  that  the  delay  of  his  solicitor  may  defeat 
B.  Flounders'  design  and  the  intention  of  his  uncle,  who  left 
him  the  Estate,  which  if  there  was  no  issue  should  go  to  benefit 
the  Society  of  Friends,  but  not  imperatively  so  left. 

He  ends  the  year  writing  to  his  son  in  America, 
settling  his  affairs,  doing  his  accounts  preparatory 
to  leaving  for  Bristol. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

1845- 

Wed.,  Jan.  i. — .  .  .  Gave  all  the  poor  in  the  Workhouse 
a  tea  drinking  ;  there  was  a  peace  and  pervading  happiness  in 
their  countenances,  old  and  young,  which  was  very  cheering. 

On  January  3rd,  Friday,  he  goes  to  see  his  "  Brother 
Coates  "  at  Norton  ;  "  the  mind  quite  gone,  yet  a 
wilful,  restless  body,  and  an  irritable  and  irritating 
disposition,"  harassing  to  his  family,  "  so  that  any 
quiet  or  rest  can  hardly  be  obtained."  He  considers 
the  possibility  of  he  himself  becoming  such  a  terrible 
burthen  to  his  "  precious  children,"  and  trusts  that 
if  this  is  his  lot,  that 

tender  compassion  will  be  extended  to  me  as  they  will  know 
how  anxious  I  was  when  my  mind  was  in  its  vigour  to  admin 
ister  to  their  comfort. 

On  the  8th  he  is  "  tenderly  affected  "  by  the  news 
of  his  coachman,  John  Hewitson's,  death. 

He  has  been  about  twenty  years  with  me.  He  had  some  dis 
positions  not  such  as  I  could  approve,  but  a  more  civil,  obliging 
man,  ready,  quick  and  patient,  I  never  expect  to  meet  with. 
His  duties  by  night  were  as  cheerfully  performed  as  by  day  ; 
as  a  primitive  methodist  there  was  zeal  and  apparent  devotion. 

On  the  20th  January  he  finds  much  fault  with 
himself  for  "  some  impressions  on  my  mind  suggested 
I  had  better  not  read  a  literary  production  which  had 

206 


Act.  78  SAMUEL  CAPPER.  207 

pleased  me  last  week — to  my  condemnation  I  took 
it  up  and  read  a  little."  On  February  ist  he  "  break 
fasted  with  Samuel  Capper,  a  worthy  man  and  minister 
who  has  tasted  largely  of  trial."  On  the  5th  February 
he  goes  to  Frenchay,  to  visit  "  Francis  Tuckett  and  his 
wife ;  their  brother  Philip  has  for  some  time  been 
alarmingly  ill,  and  the  prospect  of  his  afflicted  wife  is 
that  she  will  soon  become  a  widow  and  her  three 
children  fatherless."  The  following  day  he  is  joined 
there  by  H.  C.  Backhouse,  who  is  returning  from  a 
visit  to  her  daughter  (Mrs.  Barclay  Fox),  at  Falmouth, 
and  the  funeral  of  his 

valued  friend,  A.  R.  Barclay,*  a  true  lover  of  the  truth  as  pro 
fessed  by  the  Society  of  Friends.  ...  He  edited  the  journal 
of  Thomas  Shillitoe,  superintended  the  republication  of  Sewell's 
History,  Daniel  Wheeler's  Journal,  and  published  the  post 
humous  works  of  his  late  brother,  John  Barclay. 

Fri.,  Feb.  7. — Attended  the  week-day  meeting  (Bristol) ; 
distressingly  heavy  almost  to  sleeping  (then  follows  the  usual 
taking  himself  to  task).  Heard  that  my  dear  and  much  valued 
cousin  Rachel  Lloyd  had  a  paralytic  seizure — how  will  her 
simple,  silly  husband  bear  it. 

Fri.,  Feb.  14. — I  fear  I  enter  in  my  converse  and  thought 
too  much  into  the  thoughts  and  excitement  that  seems 
everywhere  to  exist  and  to  be  greatly  enriching  my  friends 
who  are  so  busy  buying  and  selling  railway  shares  just  now 
in  that  advanced  and  fever  state  which  I  believe  is  the  fore 
runner  of  great  loss,  suffering  and  difficulties  to  many. 

*  Abram  Rawlinson  Barclay,  one  of  four  brothers.  Robert 
Barclay,  the  eldest,  married  a  sister  of  Emma  Pease's,  Elizabeth 
Gurney.  He  was  known  as  "  the  Quakerly  gentleman."  The  third 
brother,  Ford  Barclay,  as  "  the  gentlemanly  Quaker,"  the  second  Abram 
Rawlinson  Barclay  as  "  the  Quaker."  The  two  former  never  wore 
Quaker  coats,  but  the  last  named  was  "  such  a  plain  Friend  that  he 
cut  the  buttons  off  his  coat  above  his  coat  tails,  and  would  have  nothing 
but  the  plainest  solid  wood  chairs  in  his  house."  The  youngest,  John 
Barclay,  was  also  a  plain  Friend. 


2o8  EDWARD  PEASE.  1845 

On   Wednesday   igth,  he  meditates  on  the 

silent  retired  resting  places  where  lie  in  succession  my 
precious  daughter  Mary,  her  equally  dear  brother  Isaac, 
the  greatest  treasure  of  earthly  bliss,  my  blessed  wife,  and 
next  my  dear  fine  pure  hearted  Edward;  their  next  com 
panion,  if  it  be  the  will  of  Him  before  Whom  all  flesh  must 
come,  may  be  the  writer  of  this,  and  O,  then  may  God  receive 
my  spirit  into  union  with  Himself  and  those  dear  sainted  ones 
gone  before. 

He  is  now  with  his  daughter  at  Walden  and  passes 

one  evening  pleasantly  with  my  cousins  G.  and  D.  Gibson  and 
their  son,  looking  brightly  forward  to  a  union  with  S.  Tuke's 
daughter  Elizabeth. 

On  the  ist  March  he  is  staying  at  Earlham  and 

nearly  all  the  way  there  regretted  I  had  not  brought  a  copy  of 
the  Scriptures  with  me.  .  .  My  reception  as  to  kindness 
all  my  heart  could  desire  from  a  most  affectionate  welcome. 

Mon.,  Mar.  3. — Spent  the  early  part  of  the  day  with  my 
beloved  friend,  J.  J.  G.  and  his  Eliza.  .  .  .  Went  at  six  to 
cousin  H.  Birkbeck's  to  dine,  the  conversation  much  on 
outward  passing  things. 

He  goes  on  to  London  and  on  Sunday  the  Qth  to 

two  silent  meetings  at  Tottenham  ;  heaviness  to  a  degree 
that  made  me  abhor  myself  was  my  portion. 

On  the  nth  he  spent 

some  time  in  the  gratification  of  my  curiosity  and  seeing  the 
new  Parliament  Houses  and  other  things  in  the  City ;  season 
very  cold,  frost  and  snow,  a  remarkable  long  winter. 

He  returns  home  on  the  I4th,  and  is  full  of  memories 
of  those  who  once  welcomed  him,  he  recalls  in  affecting 
review  all  the  doings  of  that  last  mournful  day  spent 
by  his  wife's  side  at  Manchester  and 


Act.  78  HANNAH  BACKHOUSE.  209 

that  bright  morning  when  my  precious  dying  Mary  looked 
upon  it  and  said  how  sweet  it  was  ere  she  drew  her  last 
breath. 

Wed.,  Mar.  ig. — Heard  with  some  surprise  that  my  nephew 
Henry  Whit  well  had  been  presented  at  Court,  dressed  not  as 
a  Friend,  with  a  sword,  and  engaged  to  go  to  Spain  as  an 
Engineer.  .  .  . 

On  the  2ist  he  notes 

sixteen  weeks  of  nearly  uninterrupted  frost,  the  keenest  cold 
I  ever  knew  for  so  long  a  time.  He  hears  of  the  death  of  a 
"dear  and  worthy  upright  distant  cousin,  Thomas  Backhouse, 
of  York,  in  the  prime  of  his  usefulness." 

Sat.,  Mar.  22. — On  an  evening  visit  to  dear  Joseph  and 
Emma  I  met  with  cousin  H.  C.  B.  and  my  daughter  Sophia  in 
a  conference.  She  (H.  C.  B.)  spoke  of  her  concern  to  visit 
a  poor  condemned  man  at  Aylesbury.  She  had  seen  him  and 
paid  him  a  visit,  to  the  great  relief  and  comfort  of  her  own 
spirit,  and  returned  home  with  very  sweet  peace.  We  felt  it 
right  to  discourage  her  going  again ;  she  remained  uninfluenced 
by  our  Sentiments. 

Thurs.,  Mar.  27. — Cousin  H.  C.  B.  returned  from  an 
unsuccessful  effort  to  see  that  wretched  murderer  in 
Aylesbury  Jail,  who  is  to  be  executed.  Few  men  have  acted 
so  completely  the  hypocrite  while  living  in  the  greatest 
wickedness ;  having  not  yet  made  any  confession,  his  wife 
believes  him  innocent ;  she  was  a  member  of  our  Society  and 
was  warned  in  the  strongest  manner  of  the  well-known  iniquity 
of  his  character. 

Fri.,  April  4. — Heard  with  much  concern  that  my  beloved 
Joseph  had  undertaken  some  new  colliery  (perhaps  a  small  one) 
near  Crook.  Every  addition  to  his  cares,  every  additional  im 
mersion  of  his  talents  into  worldly  concerns  is  painful  to  me. 
.  .  .  He  ought  to  be  satisfied  and  want  nothing  more.  .  .  . 
Should  Infinite  Wisdom  inflict  disabling  disease  or  call  him 
(which  the  Lord  avert)  who  is  to  carry  his  load  ? 

16 


210  EDWARD  PEASE.  1845 

Sat.,  April  5. — Went  with  dear  S.  Emlen  and  her  companion 
to  Newcastle.  This  sweet-spirited  interesting  woman  gave 
some  very  interesting  particulars  of  her  early  life.  Her 
father  being  thrown  overboard  in  the  Mississipi,  they  were 
reduced  to  live  on  potatoes  and  salt,  the  vessel  with  a  cargo 
was  returning  from  New  Orleans,  the  crew  sold  a  part  of  the 
Cargo  and  ran  away,  leaving  the  vessel.  Some  persons  took 
good  care  of  it  and  sold  it,  goods  and  all,  and  desired  some  per 
son  might  be  sent  for  the  money ;  they  sent  a  man  for  it — he 
received  it,  absconded  with  it  and  was  never  heard  of ! 

Mon.  April  7. — Returned  home  with  S.  Emlen  and  E.  M. 
Very  decided  are  S.  E's.  views  on  our  departure  from  Christian 
simplicity,  no  doubt  affectingly  departed  from  by  many  among 
us,  and  I  fear  by  myself  also — in  whatever  little  matters 
I  have  taken  up  the  cross  I  have  had  peace  in  it,  and  whenever 
I  have  departed  from  it  some  degree  of  condemnation  has  been 
felt. 

Wed.,  April  16. — My  cousin  Frederick  Backhouse  departed 
this  life  early  this  morning ;  leaving  a  widow,  one  son  and  one 
daughter — an  affectionateness  of  disposition  marked  his 
character,  as  a  Friend  steady  to  our  principles,  uprightness 
and  integrity  marked  his  transactions.  His  residence  was  at 
Stockton,  his  departure  .  .  .  was  at  the  house  of  his 
mother,  my  near  and  dear  neighbour.  How  those  whose 
nativity  is  well  remembered  by  me  are  called  hence  before 
me.  .  .  . 

He  goes  to  Dublin  Yearly  Meeting  this  year.  On  the 
5th  May  he  dines  at  Henry  Bewley's,  Ebenezer  Pike 
and  Lydia  J.,  and  Sarah  Pike  of  the  company.  .  .  . 
"Ah  me  !  I  fear  these  dear  Friends  and  many  others 
think  of  me  a  poor  worm  more  highly  than  they  ought 
to  think,"  took  affectionate  leave  and  sailed  for  Liver 
pool  at  7  o'clock.  On  returning  home  he  hears  ac 
counts  from  his  son  John  of  the  "  unsettlement,  excite 
ment  and  division  which  exists  in  Philadelphia  and 
other  parts  "  among  Friends,  and  is  "  fearful  of  his 


Act.  78  SEVENTY-EIGHTH  BIRTHDAY.         211 

dear  Sons  (at  home)  being  drawn  into  active  partici 
pation  in  a  line  of  railway,  which  shall  connect  Lan 
caster,  Kendal,  Carlisle,  etc.,  with  this  part  of  Durham." 
He  then  goes  to  the  London  Yearly  Meeting,  and  on 
his  78th  birthday  (Saturday,  3ist  May),  he  notes  his 
age  being  "  far  beyond  his  expectation  "  and  says  : 

Last  night  in  bed  I  felt  some  tendency  to  fainting — not 
knowing  to  what  extent  this  might  go  or  how  terminate. 
Some  hope  was  given  me  that  the  Arms  of  everlasting  mercy 
were  open  to  receive  me.  Our  good  Yearly  Meeting  ended — 
to  me  the  fulness  of  bread  was  not  given ;  may  my  hunger 
continue. 

Tues.,  June  3. — In  perusing  the  memoir  of  Thos. 
Scattergood,  a  Friend  I  well  knew  and  considered  one  of  the 
most  resigned,  dedicated  religious  characters,  .  .  .  I  was 
struck  with  that  often  lamenting  language  he  uses  as  regards 
the  absence  of  all  heavenly  help,  all  feeling  of  good  or  any 
inward  supporting  strength.  Is  there  not  in  this  a  lesson  for 
me  who  has  had  to  drink  the  drop  of  desertion.  .  .  . 

In  noting  on  the  5th  June  the  death  of  his  son 
Henry's  father-in-law,  Richard  Fell,  he  uses  the 
curious  friendly  description  of  him  as  his  "  Brother- 
in-Law."  He  denounces  as  "  unnatural  conduct,  only 
excusable  from  an  apprehension  that  there  is  a  shade 
of  insanity  about  the  man,"  the  refusal  of  S.  Barnard, 
senior,  to  consent  to  the  marriage  of  his  son  (Samuel 
Barnard),  on  whose  behalf  he  had  written  to  him.  He 
finds  that  his  property  has  greatly  increased  from  the 
advances  in  railway  property,  but  "is  not  elated  but 
humbled  "  by  the  discovery.  He  visits  Birkenhead 
and  remarks  on  the  preparations  for  docks,  etc.,  but 
fears  there  may  be  some  disappointment  in  those  who 
have  embarked  capital  in  "  the  largest  ship  ever  seen, 
the  Great  Britain,  which  we  went  on  board  of."  He 
has  gone  to  Liverpool  to  await  the  return  of  John  on 


212  EDWARD  PEASE.  1845 

board  the  Caledonia.  She  is  overdue,  and  he  spends  a 
day  or  two  of  great  anxiety  before  a  "  joyful  meeting." 
Saturday,  2nd  August,  finds  him  visiting  (at  Plaistow) 
that 

dear  and  heavenly  minded  woman,  Elizabeth  Fry,  who  weak 
in  body  and  probably  in  some  degree  inpaired  in  mind.  .  . 

Thurs.,  Aug.  7. — The  weather  more  cold  and  wet,  gloomy 
and  dreary  than  I  ever  knew  it,  and  being  of  long  continuance 
the  appearance  of  the  growing  Crops  all  unripe  is  really  alarm 
ing,  and  we  seem  fearfully  approaching  that  dreadful  season 
which,  when  a  boy  at  Leeds  School  and  going  over  to  Gilder- 
some  one  First-day,  I  heard  a  good  old  Friend  who  had  visited 
America  declare  that  he  believed  some  present  would  live  to 
see  fearful  times  when  the  Lord  would  send  famine,  sword  and 
pestilence  into  the  Land ;  this  would  be  in  the  year  1780. 
I  was  then  thirteen  years  old. 

This  month  even  the  favourite  son  John  is  criticised 
for  "commencing  extensive  alterations  in  his  house."* 
He  has  many  visitors,  as  many  as  five  or  six  staying 
with  him  at  a  time,  and  remarks  : 

While  I  endeavour  to  use  hospitality  without  grudging, 
I  have,  at  present,  a  share  of  visitors  which  in  some  degree 
interferes  with  my  engagements,  which,  though  not  very  im 
portant  I  like  to  keep  in  their  orderly  train.  .  . 

On  the  i6th  August  Joseph  and  Henry  go 

to  Redcar,  preparatory  to  commencing  a  line  of  railway — 
the  opening  of  public  concerns  by  a  public  dinner  is  little  to 
my  satisfaction. 

*  This  is  "  East  Mount."  In  1832,  Edward  Pease  mentions  in  a 
letter  that  his  son  "  John  is  busy  building  a  house  near  us  to  obtain  the 
Northern  blast."  I  have  often  been  puzzled  by  the  northern  aspect  of 
old  houses  in  Cleveland  and  South  Durham,  and  suppose  they  were 
built  facing  North  from  an  idea  that  the  "  Northern  blast  "  came  from 
a  quarter  free  from  cholera,  small  pox,  etc. 


Aet.78  PARTNERSHIP  WITH  THE  STEPHENSONS.  213 

On  Sunday,  the  17th,  he  goes  to  Meeting  "  for  the 
last  time  in  the  present  Meeting-house  ;  until  extensive 
alterations  are  completed,"  and  adds  : 

All  our  ministering  friends  being  absent  I  sat  below  the 
Gallery. 

The  meetings  appear  to  have  been  held  during  the 
alterations  "  in  a  wool  warehouse  near  Freeman's 
place." 

Thurs.,  Aug.  21. — Went  to  Newcastle  with  cousin  T. 
Richardson  to  settle  our  co-partnership  with  George  and 
Robert  Stephenson,  when  it  was  agreed  that  W.  Hutchinson 
should  come  in  as  a  fifth,  paying  £7,000  to  £8,000,  and  that 
my  Son  Joseph  should  succeed  me  on  my  demise,  the  capital 
and  profits  being  solely  mine  to  dispose  of. 

The  following  is  rather  nice,  under  September 
4th  :— 

My  dear  friends  Francis  and  Matilda  Fry  left  this 
morning  ;  she  is  an  interesting,  agreeable  woman  ;  he  a  man  of 
talent,  full  of  as  much  enterprise  and  engagement  as  is  con 
sistent  with  that  position  which  considerations  on  the  life  to 
come  ought  to  have — My  Spirit  mind  thou  thine  own  business. 

Sat.,  Sep.  6. — Agreed  to  purchase  the  property  (Darlington) 
now  used  as  a  bleach  ground  occupied  by  P.  Toulmin,  and 
belonging  to  my  Cousin  Backhouses  of  York  for  £1,400  ;  the 
idea  of  keeping  away  any  erections  that  may  be  a  nuisance 
to  my  adjacent  property  has  induced  this. 

Two  days  after  he  purchases  some  land  up  Conis- 
cliffe  Lane  for  £1,410.  The  next  day  but  one  he  goes 
to  see  how  the  business  of  Robert  Stephenson  and  Co.  is 
getting  on.  On  the  Qth  September  he  attends  a 
meeting  of  the  Bible  Society,  and  remarks: — 

It  is  now  forty-two  years  at  least  since  my  interest  in  this 
society  commenced.  It  owes  its  success  and  the  union  of 


214  EDWARD  PEASE.  1845 

sects  which  support  it  to  the  careful  watching  of  Friends  at  its 
beginning.  They  feared  some  of  the  homilies  or  prayers  of 
the  establishment  might  be  bound  up  with  the  bible.  The 
terms  Friends  made  were  that  it  should  be  part  of  the  Society's 
constitution  without  Note  or  Comment. 

There  was  much  in  the  Prayer  Book  that  evidently 
appealed  to  Edward  Pease.  I  have  several  copies  of 
his  Common  Prayer  Books.  I  have  heard  a  story  of 
his  being  stopped  by  a  clergyman  who  met  him  out 
walking,  and  of  a  discussion  that  ensued  on  some 
religious  question  and  of  Edward  Pease  making  a 
statement  that  the  prayer  book  supported  his  argu 
ment.  The  clergyman  said,  "  If  I  had  a  prayer  book 
here  I  could  show  you  it  is  otherwise."  and  Edward 
Pease,  pulling  one  from  his  pocket,  replied,  "  If  thou 
hast  not  thy  Prayer  Book  with  thee  I  have  mine/' 
much  to  the  astonishment  of  the  priest.  One  of  his 
Prayer  Books  he  has  at  some  time  begun  to  alter  in  an 
attempt  to  adapt  it  to  his  conscience,  erasing  such 
words  as  "  Priest  "  and  inserting  "  Minister,"  etc. 

Wed.,  Sep.  17 — Marsk.*  Came  to  this  place  last  evening 
with  my  dear  daughter  Emma — a  bare,  open  place  not 
attractive  to  me — the  back  country  fine  and  romantically 
beautiful  but  it  requires  an  outfit  of  horses  and  carriages  to 
enjoy  it.  I  regretted  my  dear  Son's  (Joseph's)  expenditure  of 
money  there  and  erecting  new  buildings — a  measure  I  could 
not  see  it  desirable  on  any  account  and  decidedly  less  so  his 
large  family  considered.  Compactness  not  extension  ought  to 
be  his  study  and  care.f 

*  Generally  spelt  Marsk  when  I  was  a  boy,  not  Marske. — A.E.P. 

|  This  refers  to  the  building  of  Cliff  House  at  Marsk -by-the-sea, 
which  was  added  on  to  four  small  houses,  which  communicated  with 
each  other  and  which  accommodated  members  of  the  family  during 
the  summer  and  autumn.  My  grandfather,  Joseph  Pease,  always  spent 
a  considerable  part  of  the  summer  at  Cliff  House,  and  we  as  children 
generally  came  over  for  a  few  weeks  from  Hutton,  and  put  up  at  No.  4 
with  our  ponies  and  donkey  waggon  ;  in  the  same  way  nearly  all  the 
grandchildren  were  entertained.  Marsk  was  in  those  days  a  quiet 


Act.  78  BY  RAIL  TO  STANHOPE.  215 

Thurs.,  Sept.  18 — Wandered  about  the  sands,  had  a  pleasant 
ride  towards  the  top  of  Huntcliffe,  did  not  gain  the  summit, 
the  country  looked  beautiful,  the  valleys  covered  with  corn, 
about  a  quarter  of  it  cut,  not  one  field  gathered  in. 

On  Saturday,  27th  September,  he  refers  to  it  as 
the  twentieth  anniversary  of  his  "  precious  son  Isaac's  " 
death. 

The  day  above-named  one  of  sorrow  was  also  remarkable 
as  the  twentieth  anniversary  of  the  opening  of  the  S.  and  D. 
Railway.  What  a  change  has  taken  place  in  the  civilised  world 
since  that  Era.  Went  by  Railway  up  to  Stanhope,  the  extreme 
west-end  of  the  line,  with  sundry  respectable  individuals. 

On  the  3rd  October  he  visits  a  widow  at  Stockton, 
he  is  disappointed  to  find  that  though  she  mourns  her 
husband 


seaside  fishing  village,  where  save  for  a  few  villagers  scraping  up  sea- 
coal  or  a  farmer  carting  seaweed,  we  had  the  vast  sands  to  our 
selves — though  even  then  Upleatham  Mines  were  working  two  miles 
off.  The  mine-horses  stabled  in  the  village,  and  these  after  their  day's 
work  were  always  taken  into  the  sea  for  a  bathe.  Every  evening  it 
was  a  great  excitement  to  see  them  go  down,  and  to  watch  how  far  the 
lads  would  venture  in  with  them. 

Marsk  originally  belonged  to  Robert  de  Brus,  and  passed  through 
marriage  to  the  Nevilles  (Lords  Fauconberge) ,  and  thence  to  the 
Conyers,  then  to  the  Atherton  family,  then  to  Sir  Wm.  Pennyman, 
then  to  the  Lowthers,  who  sold  it  to  the  Dundases.  The  Earl  of 
Zetland  is  still  the  chief  proprietor. 

Marsk  Hall  bears  the  arms  of  Pennyman  and  Atherton  on  the 
front.  When  I  was  a  boy  many  traditions  of  smuggling  and  many 
old  smugglers  still  survived.  Smugglers'  caves  were  found  under  the 
cottages  we  lived  in  :  the  entrance  to  one  was  discovered,  I  remember, 
by  removing  a  hearthstone,  and  much  later  the  carriage-drive  collapsed, 
exposing  another  one.  Captain  Cook's  father  was  buried  at  Marske 
in  1779,  the  year  of  his  distinguished  son's  murder,  but  being  a  "  day 
labourer,"  no  stone  marks  his  grave. 

My  nurse,  Sarah  Wilson,  still  living  1906,  a  native  of  Runswick 
Bay,  but  whose  grandparents  belonged  to  Marsk,  told  us  many  stories 
of  the  bloody  encounters  of  the  Marsk  smugglers  with  preventive 
men,  and  how  the  run  goods  were  sent  on  pack-horses  trained  to  go 
without  men  as  far  as  Stokesley,  and  much  else  that  I  have  long 
since  forgotten.  On  my  grandfather's  death  Cliff  House  went  to  Arthur 
Pease,  and  on  Arthur  Pease's  death  to  his  third  son,  the  present 
owner,  Claud  Edward  Pease. 


216  EDWARD  PEASE.  1845 

the  value  of  earthly  things  and  caring  about  them  not  only 
seemed  to  dry  up  sorrow  except  in  its  gusts  but  was  one  means 
of  preventing  the  afflicting  stroke  to  be  refmingly  felt 
.  .  and  preparation  for  joining  the  spirit  of  her  husband 
where  she  believed  he  was  gone — as  an  upright  moral  man  we 
may  trust  divine  compassion  was  extended  ;  yet  it  seems  to 
me  there  is  considered  by  the  Society  of  Friends  a  higher 
degree  of  purity  and  holiness  needful  to  fit  for  heaven  than 
other  Christians  look  to  and  'tis  well  to  remember  it. 

Thurs.,  ^ct.  9. — John  Peacock,  Clerk  to  the  Magistrates, 
writes  that  he  entirely  gives  up  all  his  fees  on  the  warrants  of 
distraints  on  Friends,  a  liberality  Friends  have  not  heretofore 
been  accustomed  to  be  treated  with. 

This  month  he  sees  a  good  deal  of  John  Hodgkin 
and  discusses  with  him  the  establishment  "  of  the 
schools  at  Nismes,  which  I  hope  will  produce  good 
fruits."  Evidently  from  many  entries  in  this  and 
other  years  he  is  at  times  vastly  perplexed  with  reli 
gious  doubts  ;  he  apparently  asks  himself  how  is  it  that 
the  dispensations  of  the  Holy  One  are  so  varied  in 
different  periods  and  to  different  people.  At  one 
period  he  sends  His  Son,  and  then  Apostles  to  preach 
and  work  miracles,  and  then  these  powers  suffer  eclipse, 
and  then  the  "  most  humble  pious  breathings  and 
endeavour  "  yield  no  results  as  those  recorded  at  other 
times,  but  he  tries  to  sum  up  the  puzzle  by  saying 
"  in  this  there  is  no  cause  to  mourn  and  be  sad,  for 
according  to  the  gift  is  the  judgment."  On  the  I5th 
October  he  notes  the  death  of  Elizabeth  Fry  at  Rams- 
gate,  "  a  very  dear  Friend  and  the  most  remarkable 
female  in  the  Society  of  Friends  in  my  day,"  "  fervent 
piety  in  a  most  benevolent  mind  "  "  to  all  connected 
with  vice  and  crime,  she  endeavoured  to  minister  to  the 
necessities  of  soul  and  body,"  and  "  to  reduce  the 
amount  of  human  misery  in  gaol  and  hospital."  Also 


Act.  78  RAILWAY  SPECULATIONS.  217 

the  death  (on  October  I7th)  of  "  my  old  neighbour 
and  friend  Deborah  Kitching,  about  84  years  of  age ; 
this  leaves  but  one  member  of  this  meeting  older  than 
myself." 

Mon.,'  Oct.  20. — Went  to  Yarm  with  my  Son  Joseph,  con 
ferred  with  Benj.  Flounders,  how  he  had  received  £84,000 
for  his  estate,  how  it  was  to  be  disposed  of,  his  uncles  having 
desired  Friends  might  have  the  benefit  if  there  were  no 
issue.  :  :  . 

Mon.,  Oct.  27. — Informed  that  my  dear  Son  Henry  had 
bought  Pierpoint  [Pierremont],  the  late  residence  of  Jno. 
Botcherby,  for  £5,000,  its  fair  value.  The  possession  of  this 
showy  mansion  kindles  a  concern  in  my  mind  that  being  the 
possessor  of  it,  instead  of  being  lifted  up,  his  humility  may 
increase  under  a  continued  and  grateful  sense  of  the  great 
privilege  he  enjoys,  etc. 

The  next  day  he  goes  to  see  the  premises  and  thinks 
the  repairs  and  maintenance  will  "  involve  in  an 
uncomfortable  extent  "  an  expense. 

Mon.,  Nov.  3. — Mournful  account  of  the  dreadful  specula 
tion  that  exists  in  Railway  Shares.  A  young  Friend  (about 
twenty-three)  of  Bristol  married  about  eight  months  ago,  had 
so  involved  himself  that  in  a  fit  of  despair  he  leaves  his  bride 
and  in  a  note  tells  her  she  shall  never  see  him  more,  etc.  . 

This  day  completes  the  forty-ninth  year  since  my  happy 
union  with  my  long  lost  Love. 

On  the  I4th  November  his  "  Worthy  servant  Jos. 
Gatenby  "  dies,  and  in  an  eulogy  he  remarks,  "  he  was 
a  tender  nurse  to  my  precious  Edward  "  and  to  his  son 
John  when  he  smashed  his  thigh.  He  terms  him  "  a 
careful  and  affectionate  helper/'  he  sends  three  maid 
servants  to  the  funeral  at  Otterington  (near  North- 
allerton).  He  takes  an  interest  in  the  Locomotive 


218  EDWARD  PEASE.  1845 

Engine  Works  at  Newcastle,  but  a  day  or  two  after  visit 
ing  them  he  says  that  "  Great  is  the  general  agitation 
about  new  works  in  railways  throughout  the  Kingdom, 
many  contemplated  to  affect  this  County.  ...  To 
my  own  surprise  and  comfort  I  am  devoid  of  all  anxiety 
to  see  anything  completed."  He  keeps  up  a  corres 
pondence  with  Friends  in  America  and  says  in  doing 
this  "  the  desire  is  present  that  I  may  say  nothing  but 
what  in  some  measure  my  heart  has  felt,  my  hands 
have  handled,  my  eyes  have  seen,  or  with  opened  ear 
I  have  heard." 

On  the  27th  November  he  puts  down  "  Distressing 
meeting,  not  one  devotional  thought,  not  the  least 
capacity  for  worship  or  religious  exercise."  On 
December  5th  "  Jno.  Fowler  left  me  after  two  days 
pleasant  tarriance.  I  enjoyed  his  society."  * 

On  the  gth  December  he  resigns  the  office  of  an 
Overseer  in  the  Society  which  he  had  "  weakly  filled 
near  fifty  years."  On  the  nth  December  "  heard 
Elizabeth  Ann  Dale  in  our  meeting  to-day  in  a  good 
testimony."! 

The  same  day  :  "  In  my  morning  reading  in  bed  I  was 
startled  in  seeing  the  corners  of  the  leaves  of  my 
testament  in  blaze ;  I  got  it  immediately  put  out." 

He  gets  very  "  tried  "  with  the  editor  of  a  paper 
called  the  British  Friend,  and  says  he  is  fast  becoming 
a  Ranter,  and  the  following  is  rather  characteristic  of 
his  tender  conscience  in  his  endeavour  to  push  The 
Friend  (evidently  the  rival  periodical)  :  "  Found  by 
the  information  from  the  editor  of  the  British  Friend 
what  I  had  indeed  discovered  before,  that  in  order  to 
discourage  his  (I  fear)  strife  sowing  periodical  I  had 

*  This  Jno.  Fowler,  born  1792,  had  lost  his  wife  in  1842;  his  son 
John,  born  1826,  married  Elizabeth  Lucy  Pease,  and  his  son  William 
married  as  his  third  wife  her  sister  Rachel  Leatham  nke  Pease. 

f  This  was  the  mother  of  the  late  Sir  David  Dale,  Bart. 


Aet.  78  NATIONAL  AFFAIRS.  219 

proposed  a  mode,  by  reduction  of  price,  to  The  Friend, 
that  was  not  consistent  with  the  rule  I  am  ever  anxious 
to  attend  to,  of  doing  as  I  would  be  done  unto.  Con 
demnation  and  repentant  regret  is  my  portion,  and  I  am 
humbled  and  thankful  to  my  Father  who  is  in  Heaven 
that  he  gives  me  to  feel  when  I  trespass  against  his 
good  preserving  spirit." 

Wed.,  Dec.  24. — State  affairs  quite  unsettled.  No  fixed 
Government  just  now.  Sir  Robert  Peel  has  resigned,  Lord 
John  Russell  is  unable  to  make  up  an  efficient  ministry  and 
resigns  it  into  the  hands  of  the  Queen.  .  .  The  prospects 
of  the  Cotton  and  Worsted  Manufactures  now  very  gloomy  and 
threaten  to  the  poor  employed  in  them  a  time  of  great  distress. 

He  ends  the  year  with  the  remark,  "  Life  extended 
beyond  any  of  my  known  progenitors  on  my  father's 
side,"  and  then  follows  the  examination  of  his  record 
as  a  steward,  and  a  prayer  that  "  mercy  may  cover  the 
Judgment  Seat." 


CHAPTER  X. 

1846. 

IN  a  prefatory  note  to  this  year  he  declares  he  is 
sensible  of  the  incorrect  judgments,  the  uninteresting 
and  trivial  entries  and  remarks  on  character  which 
had  better  not  have  been  noted  in  his  diaries,  and 
adds  the  desire  "  To  my  beloved  descendants  who 
may  be  disposed  to  cast  -an  eye  over  what  is  written 
will  do  it  with  that  affectionate  kind  indulgence 
for  my  weaknesses  and  which  my  advanced  age  may  be 
an  apology  for — my  8oth  year."  He  speaks  of  abated 
personal  vigour,  being  blest  with  unimpaired  health, 
which  gives  him  remarkably  and  fully  to  enjoy  all  the 
branches  of  his  beloved  family,  of  the  large  share  of  the 
abundance  of  this  earth  that  has  been  placed  under 
his  stewardship.  He  is  rather  "pained"  with  "the 
extent  to  which  some  of  us  are  decking  and  adorning 
our  dwellings  and  our  gardens."  He  desires  "to  view 
with  great  tenderness  every  juvenile  pursuit  and 
relaxation,"  but  thinks  there  is  at  times  a  "  playfulness 
not  quite  sufficiently  chastened  by  the  thoughts  that 
keep  in  view  the  life  to  come." 

On  the  I4th  of  January  he  starts  with  John  and 
goes  to  Preston,  and  stays  with  one  Michael  Satter- 
thwaite  and  his  sister  S.  Ord.  He  attends  a  Quarterly 
Meeting  and  speaks  a  few  words,  and  goes  on  to  Man 
chester  to  sympathise  with  his  "  dear  niece  Rachel 
Fryer,  hourly  expecting  the  dissolution  of  the  tenderest 
tie."  He  calls  on  his  nephew  Joseph  (and  Jane)  Clay, 


Act.  79  ROBERT  FOWLER.  221 

and  they  convey  him  to  Huddersfield  to  see  his  cousin 
N.  Robson,  who  has  a  "  sweet  innocent  unworldly 
mind/'  and  on  the  igth  he  goes  to  Newcastle  to  settle 
a  new  deed  of  partnership  for  twenty-one  years  with 
Robert  Stephenson.  On  the  22nd  he  hears  of  the 
death  of  his  dear  nephew  Joseph  Jowett  Fryer,  "  by 
this  affecting  event  my  dear  niece  is  a  young  widow 
with  five  children  !  .  .  .  This  evening  a  large 
Essay  Meeting  (fifty-four)  held  in  my  drawing  room." 
He  goes  on  the  26th  January  to  Bristol  and  reaches  his 
son  and  daughter's  home  in  Berkley  Square  at  n  p.m. 
"  without  any  sense  of  fatigue,"  but  he  "  declined  to 
go  to  meeting  "  the  next  morning. 

Wed.,  Feb.  4 — At  my  Cousin  John  Fowler's  at  Elm  Grove, 
near  Melksham ;  he  is  the  son  of  Friends  and  relatives  of  my 
generation.  Robert  and  Rachel  Fowler,  very  worthy  minis 
ters,  exemplary  self-denying  Christians  of  great  simplicity, 
When  I  look  for  such  standard  bearers  and  from  whence  they 
are  to  arise,  my  heart  is  ready  to  faint  within  me.  Lord  give 
not  thy  heritage  to  the  moles  and  bats. 

Robert  Fowler  was  born  24th  of  5th  mo.,  1755,  and 
died  27th  4th  mo.,  1825.  Judging  from  the  records  of 
him  preserved  in  an  old  family  MS.,  and  edited  by  my 
sister-in-law,  Miss  Jean  Fowler,  his  boyhood  was  not 
happy,  chiefly  owing  to  the  unkindness  of  his 
step-mother.  Two  generations  after,  the  mark  on  the 
wall  of  the  old  Counting  House  at  Melksham  was 
shown  where  he  used  to  lean  his  head  when  driven 
out  of  the  house  by  Mrs.  Fowler  number  two.*  Even 
the  "  testimony  "  of  the  Melksham  Meeting  seems 
to  refer  to  this  in  its  opening  sentences,  e.g.,  "  Our 
beloved  friend  Robert  Fowler,  owing  to  the  death  of 

*  The  father,  Thomas  Fowler,  born  1730,  married  first,  1753, 
Katherine  Rutty;  she  died  1762.  Secondly,  1765,  Elizabeth  Fowler, 
of  Hampton,  co.  Gloucester. 


222  EDWARD  PEASE.  1846 

his  pious  mother  (nee  Katherine  Rutty),  and  some  other 
circumstances  .  .  .  was  introduced  to  trials  whilst 
very  young."  Educated  at  Pickwick  and  Worcester, 
he  entered  into  his  father's  business  (wine  and  spirit 
merchants),  at  the  age  of  fifteen.  He  resigned  the 
more  profitable  part  of  it,  "  the  supplying  of  inns  with 
ardent  spirits  "  as  inconsistent  with  his  profession, 
and  believed  that  a  blessing  rested  on  this  sacrifice. 
He  married  in  1790  Rachel  Barnard,  a  daughter  of 
Hannah  Wilson,  of  Kendal  (hence  the  cousinship  with 
Edward  Pease)  "  a  most  beautiful  woman  and  actively 
benevolent."  They  lived  at  Melksham  till  1799,  and 
then  moved  to  the  present  home  of  the  family,  Gastard, 
formerly  called  Elm  Grove  or  Chapel  Knap.  He  was  a 
most  hospitable  man,  and  after  1799  became  a  minister. 
He  had  a  similar  antipathy  to  that  which  Edward  Pease 
had  of  accumulating  wealth  and  left  on  record  his  desire 
"  that  our  dear  children  may  never  possess  more  than 
will  conduce  to  their  good  as  useful  members  of  our 
religious  society."  He  travelled  much,  chiefly  in  the 
Ministry.  The  testimony  records  that  whilst  "  being 
concerned  for  the  support  of  our  peculiar  testimonies 
he  at  the  same  time  evinced  a  liberal  spirit  and  true 
esteem  towards  those  of  other  religious  societies,"  and 
that  he  "  was  a  man  of  clear  and  deliberate  judgment, 
his  heart  and  ear  were  ever  open  to  the  trials  of  his 
fellow-men  ...  he  was  particularly  cautious  not 
to  reflect  upon  the  character  of  any."  Charles  Wake- 
field  has  said  of  him  that  he  was  "  a  sweet  man,  one  of 
the  most  perfect  gentlemen  I  ever  knew,  very  gentle 
in  manner  and  speech";  that  he  was  very  interesting 
and  well  read,  neat  in  appearance  and  ways,  fond  of 
nature,  that  he  was  fair,  slight,  and  short,  and  that 
"  he  walked  more  after  the  model  of  his  Master  than 
any  man  I  have  ever  met."  The  subjects  in  which  he 
was  most  actively  interested  were  the  Anti-Slavery 


Act.  79  ILLNESS  OF  HIS  BROTHER.  223 

Movement,  the  Bible  Society,  the  Society  for  Pro 
moting  Christian  Morals  and  Education.  In  his 
labours  in  France  he  was  much  helped  by  Baron  de 
Stael.* 

After  various  visits  Edward  Pease  hurries  home, 
having  had  an  account  of  his  brother  Joseph's 
illness.  When  he  got  this  alarming  report  he  "  con 
cluded  to  assemble  with  my  friends,  and  in  a  disposition 
that  desired  to  be  guided  by  Omnipotence  and  there 
seek  if  haply  I  might  feel  what  was  best  as  to  my 
returning  or  remaining  here — when  it  left  clear  that 
my  peace  would  most  likely  be  complete  by  returning 
home,"  and  so  he  goes  home  by  Bristol  and  Birming 
ham.  The  relations  between  the  two  brothers,  as  will 
have  been  gathered  by  previous  entries,  had  been 
somewhat  strained,  and  as  I  cannot  say,  "  I  have 
heard  the  other  side,"  I  do  not  know  to  what 
extent  Edward  Pease's  judgments  were  harsh, 
but  if  any  one  will  read  a  book  called  "British  Folks 
and  British  India  "  they  will  find  there  an  interesting 
history  of  "  Joseph  Pease  of  Feethams  and  his  Con 
temporaries,"  written  by  John  Hyslop  Bell.  In  this 
we  find  a  very  different  picture  of  the  man  from  that 
we  should  gather  from  his  brother's  journals.  A  man 
if  of  less  gentle  and  genial  nature  than  Edward  Pease, 
yet  with  broader  views  and  wider  sympathies,  and  who 
if  more  absorbed  and  anxious  about  his  material 
interests,  was  active  in  benevolence  and  practical  in 
philanthropy.  He  was  a  richer  man  and  lived  in  more 
luxurious  surroundings  than  other  members  of  his 
family,  and  some  idea  of  him  and  his  life  may  be 
gleaned  from  the  opening  pages  of  the  life  of  his 
daughter,  Elizabeth  Pease  Nichol,  by  Anna  M.  Stoddart, 
in  the  series  of  "  Saintly  Lives."  With  this  preliminary 

*  A  memoir  of  Robert  Fowler  with  extracts  from  his  letters, 
etc.,  was  published  for  private  circulation  at  Norwich,  by  Wilkin  & 
Fletcher,  in  1833. 


224  EDWARD  PEASE.  1846 

warning  to  the  reader  I  proceed  with  some  of  the  entries 
that  deal  with  Joseph  Pease's  closing  days  and  the 
final  healing  of  the  breach  between  the  two  brothers. 

On  the  i7th  of  February,  after  describing  his 
brother's  illness  (gout  and  jaundice)  Edward  Pease 
continues  : — 

My  brotherly  solicitude  is  awakened  and  I  desire  it  may  be 
granted  to  him  to  profit  by  this  visitation  by  his  mind 
being  turned  to  Him  Who,  I  fear,  of  late  he  has  much  for 
gotten  in  eager  pursuit  of  the  treasures  of  time. 

On  arriving  at  Darlington  he  sends  a  message  to  his 
brother,  "  if  he  wished  to  see  me."  His  reply  was  "  No, 
nor  any  one  else." 

I  had  hoped  it  might  be  otherwise  and  felt  tried.  I 
searched  my  heart  to  know  if  injustice  or  unkindness  had  ever 
been  in  it.  I  hope  I  was  correct  in  thinking  I  had  disinterestedly 
advanced  his  interest  to  the  cost  of  my  own,  and  thankful 
that  there  was  none  of  the  biting  anguish  of  condemnation,  etc. 

Two  days  after,  referring  to  his  "  dear  Brother," 

but    oh    what    tendency    he     manifests 

to  converse  about  earthly  things  and  earthly  possessions — how 
needful  it  is  to  watch  lest  the  heart  so  fix  upon  the  treasure 
which  the  moth  and  rust  destroy  instead  of  that  which  is 
safe  from  decay. 

On  the  28th  February: 

This  evening  much  to  my  relief  and  comfort  I  had  a  short 
and  affectionate  interview  with  my  dear  Brother,  laid  prostrate 
probably  to  rise  no  more ;  he  was  in  a  subdued  and  measur 
ably  awaken' d  state. 

From  further  entries  I  gather  that  his  anxiety  about 
Joseph's  spiritual  state  is  based  upon  the  way  he  has 
allowed  "  the  pursuit  of  worldly  things  to  lead  away 
from  social  worship  "  ;  in  fact,  he  has  evidently  not 
been  a  very  good  attender  of  meetings  for  worship. 


Aet.  79         JOSEPH  PEASE  OF  FEETHAMS.  225 

This  is  worth  noticing,  as  evidence  of  the  great  stress 
laid  at  this  time  in  the  history  of  Friends  on  the 
importance  of  public  worship,  and  it  is  of  assist 
ance  in  trying  to  trace  the  feeling  that  one 
witnesses  at  times  of  guilt  or  uneasiness  in 
omitting  to  worship  in  public.  The  illness  is  long 
and  very  painful,  and  as  the  days  wear  on,  he  notes 
with  satisfaction  "  the  mind  loosening  from  the  things 
of  time,"  and  ejaculates,  "  May  heavenly  compassion 
and  love  make  clean  work  of  his  bosom  and  mine, 
that  in  the  end  the  palms  of  victory  may  be  in  our 
hands." 

Sat.,  Mar.  14. — Symptoms  of  nearly  approaching  disso 
lution.  .  .  The  mind  keeps  clear — the  brightness  of 
prospect  as  to  the  life  to  come  is  not,  I  think,  expressed,  neither 
is  there  a  condemning  review  of  past  life  ;  there  is  a  desire  to 
be  dissolved  and  hope  in  the  mercy  of  Him  Who  is  greater 
in  this  attribute  than  the  magnitude  of  all  transgressions.  It 
is  on  infinite  mercy  all  have  to  rest,  but  its  promise  is  to  the 
just,  the  pure  and  the  merciful,  and  it  will  be  fulfill'd. 

Mon.,  Mar.  16: — Ere  I  rose  this  morning  a  note  com 
municated  to  me  that  the  spirit  of  my  dear  brother  had  taken 
its  flight.  .  .  .  The  departure  was  without  a  struggle  and 
I  trust  infinite  compassion  will  receive  the  spirit  into  a  prepared 
mansion.  His  last  expression  was  "  Yes,  very  happy.  Lord 
Jesus,  into  thy  arms  I  commit  my  spirit." 

On  the  i8th  the  family  mourners  all  meet  at 
Feethams,  and  on  the  igth  he  is  pleased  in  "  fixing 
the  interment  to-morrow  "  to  see  the  "  attention  to 
simplicity."  On  the  2oth  the  funeral  takes  place 
in  deep  snow,  and  it  is  a  day  with  "  many  associated 
recollections  which  came  tenderly  home." 

The  good  old-fashioned  way  of  walking  solemnly  to  the 
Graveyard  was  observed,  the  great  quiet  around  the  Grave  and 
the  deep  sorrow  of  my  beloved  Niece  added  to  the  impressive 

17 


226  EDWARD  PEASE.  1847 

weight  of  the  last  parting  scene.     About  forty  relatives  assem 
bled  in  the  evening. 

Sat.,  March.  21. — My  dear  brother  is  now  for  ever  gone. 
I  contemplate  the  last  few  weeks  of  his  life  with  more  comfort 
than  a  few  previous  years  as  they  appeared  to  be  spent  in 
various  pursuits  whether  of  benevolent  character  or  for  pe 
cuniary  gain,  they  led  the  mind  from  that  religious  stability 
and  that  due  attendance  at  Divine  worship  which  is  due  to 
Almighty  God ;  yet  I  am  comforted  in  the  belief  that  heavenly 
goodness  was  so  powerfully  near  that  he  was  enabled  to  put 
nearly  all  worldly  considerations  away  from  his  thoughts  and 
from  his  lips,  calmly  saying  at  last :  "  I  am  happy.  Lord 
Jesus  into  thy  arms  I  commit  my  spirit." 

During  these  months  he  refers  to  some  passing 
events,  and  notes  an  extraordinarily  mild  February 
followed  by  deep  snow  ;  he  laments  among  his  friends 
that  they  have  "  so  run  out  from  the  simplicity  of 
the  Gospel  of  Christ  in  the  furniture  and  decoration 
of  their  houses,  the  waste  of  money  in  the  extent  of 
horticultural  and  beautified  grounds,"  that  he  is 
"  constrained  "  to  think  all  sorts  of  things. 

American  Friends  who  visited  England  often  were 
troubled  by  the  way  in  which  the  English  Quakers 
devoted  themselves  to  business.  There  is  a  story  in  my 
wife's  family  of  an  American  visiting  Melksham  Meeting, 
and  who  rose  and  said,  "  There's  too  much  wool, 
too  much  flour  and  too  much  hops  in  this  meeting," 
and  resumed  his  seat.  The  hops  were  those  of  the 
Robert  Fowler  who  is  referred  to  a  few  pages  back. 

On  the  other  hand  the  American  Friends  often 
puzzled  their  British  entertainers,  as,  for  instance, 
when  two,  named  Charity  Cook  and  Mary  Swet, 
strolled  down  Melksham  street  after  dinner  with 
their  pipes  in  their  mouths,  "  considerably  astonishing 
the  natives,"  as  their  hostess,  Rachel  Fowler,  whom 


Act.  79  DARLINGTON  MEETING.  227 

I    well   remember   as    "  Aunt    Rachel    Fowler,"    used 
to  relate. 

There  are  glimpses  of  Darlington  Meeting  in  the 
diary  this  year  that  recall  memories  of  my  childhood, 
and  of  the  curiosity  and  impatience  with  which  I  used 
to  watch  the  symptoms  that  a  close  observer  might 
count  on  as  preceding  the  breaking  up.  The  signal 
for  breaking  up  is  the  shaking  of  hands  by  the  two 
senior  ministers  in  the  ministers'  gallery.  Although 
Edward  Pease  was  not  a  minister,  he  generally  took 
his  place  there,  and  latterly  sat  at  the  head,  thus  the 
responsibility  for  this  signal  would  fall  on  him.  He 
relates  on  the  2Qth  March, 

On  the  men's  side  alone  in  the  gallery,  two  dear  sisters 
by  me,  my  daughter  Sophia  and  K.  B.  [Katherine  Backhouse]. 
.  .  .  Greatly  condemned  in  mind  and  very  uneasy  under 
a  feeling  that  I  concluded  our  very  short  meeting  too  soon. 
As  we  were  parting  it  felt  to  me  that  I  had  interrupted  and 
invaded  that  sense  of  solemn  worship  which  clothed  minds 
present.  Had  I  been  less  mindful  and  more  quiet  under  the 
great  restlessness  of  the  dear  friend  near  me,  I  might  have 
escaped  this  sorrow. 

Mon.,  Mar.  30. — Heard  last  evening  with  much 
satisfaction  that  my  late  dear  Brother  had  left  many  small 
donations  to  be  given  to  poor  men  who  had  been  in  our  joint 
employ,  and  to  several  relations  in  limited  circumstances. 
His  disposition,  naturally  a  kind  one,  evidenced  itself  more  and 
more  as  the  hour  of  his  dissolution  drew  nigh.  This  informa 
tion  leads  me  to  consider  arrangements  of  a  similar  description 
I  had  made  many  years  ago.  .  .  . 

He  goes  the  next  day  to  Ayton  and  "  dined  in  sweet 
and  friendly  ease  with  twelve  others  at  Thos. 
Richardson's  [Cleveland  Lodge].  His  generosity  in 
giving  another  £1,000  [to  Ayton  School]  continues." 
On  one  of  the  following  days  he  had  been  thinking  too 
much  of  his  wealth,  and  he  calls  it  "  a  piteous  day  : 


228  EDWARD  PEASE.  1846 

a  blast  of  wind  from  the  wilderness  of  this  world's 
spirit."  He  has  a  visit  "  from  Ann  E.  Dale  and  her 
brother  and  sister  from  Canada,  some  conversation 
on  music,  of  which  the  last  is  passionately  fond  ;  it 
might  be  useful,  if  the  heart  was  not  carried  away 
by  its  fascinating,  delusive  effects.  ...  I  trust 
nothing  was  seen  or  said  that  could  occasion  the  blessed 
cause  to  be  lightly  esteemed."  On  the  nth  April 
he  notes  the  death  of  his  "  Cousin  "  Eleanor  Richard 
son,  wife  of  his  "  Cousin  George  Richardson,"  and 
goes  to  the  funeral  at  Newcastle  on  the  i4th.  On 
the  i5th  he  writes  of  great  enjoyment  as  he  saw 
around  his  table,  children  and  grandchildren  eighteen 
in  number.  On  the  2Oth  he  hears  of  the  death  of 
"  Benjamin  Flounders,  of  Yarm,  once  an  over 
scrupulous  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends.  A 
few  months  before  his  decease  he  settled  £40,000  on 
four  Friends  for  an  institution  at  Ackworth."  The 
same  week  he  travels  to  London  with  John  Hodgkin, 
"  my  pleasant,  interesting  and  only  companion." 

He  goes  on  to  his  daughter's  at  Walden,  and  spends 
his  time  writing  to  the  Gurneys  at  Earlham  and 
reading  works  not  to  profit  or  edifying.  He  notes 
his  son  Henry  has  got  into  his  new  house,  "  Pierremont" 
the  day  his  son  (H.  F.  P.),  is  eight  years  old,  and  that 
his  other  son,  John,  is  "  buying  lands  adjoining  his 
house  at  a  very  high  rate."  A  great  deal  is  written 
about  certain  differences  between  Friends  in  America 
and  their  correspondence  with  Friends  in  England. 
He  goes  to  the  Yearly  Meeting  and  lodges  with  Thos. 
Richardson  at  Stamford  Hill.  His  entries  are  always 
full  of  the  business  of  the  Yearly  Meeting  each  year, 
but  I  pass  them  over  mostly.  This  year,  however, 
he  notices  "  less  religious  life  and  vitality,"  and  a 
"  low  state  "  in  the  Society  ;  "  a  general  complaint 
of  departure  from  the  plain  language,  the  attendance 


Aet.  79  BIRTHRIGHT  MEMBERSHIP.  229 

of  places  of  amusement,  and  the  introduction  of 
music  into  Friends'  houses,"  all  of  which  he  says  he 
finds  very  affecting.  Also  among  other  questions 
which  interest  him  the  important  one  of  "  Birthright 
Membership"  comes  up,  or,  as  he  says,  was  "thrown 
before  the  meeting  "  by  R.  Jowett,  and  did  not  meet 
with  support.  "  I  trust  our  religious  society  will 
never  change  the  present  rule.  I  can  hardly  express 
the  feeling  of  my  mind  or  the  extent  of  my  gratitude 
for  this  blessing  and  privilege.  The  protection  and 
shelter  "  of  it  "  is  unspeakably  great  "  in  his  own 
case.  He  discusses  a  sermon,  and  writes  '  That 
Satan  could  transform  himself  into  an  Angel  of  Light, 
but  could  never  transform  himself  into  an  Angel  of 
Love." 

On  the  26th  May  he  hears  of  the  death  of  his  cousin 
Thos.  Pease,  of  Leeds,  "  a  first  cousin  gone,  another 
of  my  generation."  "  I  am  not  to  be  long  ere  I  follow." 
On  the  3ist  May  he  enters  his  eightieth  year  in  the 
house  of  Peter  Bedford,  at  Croydon,  and  then  pays 
visits  to  various  Friends  and  thinks  that,  considering 
his  age,  he  perhaps  "  conversed  too  freely."  On  his 
return  home  in  June  from  Harrogate,  he  enters  on 
the  loth  : 

Invited  to  lay  the  foundation  stone  of  the  new  public 
rooms  about  to  be  erected.  I  declined  this  as  I  have  done  taking 
a  public  and  prominent  part  in  anything  with  which  I  might 
be  mixed  up. 

He  mentions  that  his  walk  has  been  "  humble  " 
and  "  unaspiring,"  with  only  remaining  objects 

to  serve  the  Church  on  Earth,  to  love  my  children  and  grand 
children,  to  increase  their  comfort  and  happiness  according 
to  the  utmost  love  and  kindness  I  possess,  and  cherishing  a 
tender  regard  for  the  bulk  of  mankind  to  serve  and  relieve  its 
wants. 


230  EDWARD  PEASE.  1846 

There  is  an  entry  this  month  about  the  domestic 
troubles  of  his  sister  Whitwell  and  her  daughter-in-law, 
Ann,  whose  husband  has  ceased  correspondence,  and 
who  is  "  in  Spain  or  elsewhere,"  but  on  the  23rd  he 
records,  "  My  nephew,  Henry  Whitwell,  returned  after 
an  absence  of  about  six  months  in  Spain/'  He  calls 
him  a  poor  wanderer  from  the  path  of  virtue,  if  reports 
are  true,  and  he  is  sorry  for  his  wife,  "  a  most  amiable 
and  personally  very  engaging  young  woman."  *  He 
mentions  that  from  the  family  businesses  of  the  Coal 
Trade,  Collieries,  and  in  the  Woollen  Mills  there  is  no 
income,  and  that  his  son's  establishments  are  expensive 
at  Southend  and  Pierremont.  The  collieries  have  lost 
£1,400  in  five  months,  but  the  "  Forth  Street  Concern  " 
(i.e.,  R.  Stephenson  &  Co.),  is  doing  well,  and  he  goes 
to  Newcastle  occasionally  to  attend  to  it.  In  July  he 
alludes  with  satisfaction  to  Lord  John  Russell  coming 
in,  and  Peel  retiring. 

Tues.,  July  14. — Heard  with  concern  that  my  young 
Cousin  E.  B.  [Edmund  Backhouse]  had  been  so  unwise  as  to 
have  a  trotting  match.  Ah,  lamentable,  if  these  buddings 
of  outgoings  are  not  checked,  a  wider  deviation  and  wrong 
association  ensues. 

Edmund  Backhouse  was  one  of  the  heroes  of 
my  father's  youth,  and  his  companion  in  field  sports. 
Both  were  lovers  and  good  judges  of  horseflesh. 
Edmund  Backhouse  was  an  excellent  whip,  and  like 
my  father,  was  fond  of  driving  his  four-in-hand  till 
he  was  advanced  in  years.  He  was  the  first  Member 
of  Parliament  for  Darlington,  and  died,  loved  and 
respected,  in  1906,  at  Trebah,  near  Falmouth,  and 
was  buried  in  the  Friends'  Burial  Ground  at  Budock, 
having  been  a  Friend  all  his  life  and  a  regular  attender 
of  Friends'  meetings  of  worship. 

*  She  was  afterwards  Mrs.  David  Dale,  the  late  Sir  D.  Dale's  first 
wife. 


Aet.  79  MECHANICS'  WAGES.  231 

In  the  previous  year,  Edward  Pease  had  purchased 
some  land  ("  Coniscliffe  Lane,"  "  Tolsons,"  and  various 
fields,  etc.),  and  so  he  re-arranges  his  will,  and  having 
done  so,  he  adds, 

My  desire  is  that  all  my  precious  descendants  may  be  satis 
fied  of  the  fulness  of  my  love  for  them  .  .  .  and  that 
the  distribution  of  the  property  with  which  my  Heavenly 
Father  has  endowed  me  may  be  to  their  satisfaction  and 
promote  their  comfort,  ever  considering  that  they  are  stewards 
under  the  Highest  .  .  .  and  beware  of  living  too  much  to 
themselves. 

At  the  end  of  July  he  remarks  that  wheat  harvest 
has  begun,  and  that  it  is  a  year  of  plenty,  and 

I  have  known  no  former  time  in  which  the  wages  of  masons, 
carpenters  and  all  mechanists  were  so  high  in  their  demand 
for  wages :  26s.  to  303.  per  week.  At  the  same  time  living  is 
cheap. 

Fri.,  Aug.  7. — .  .  .  The  Horticultural  Show  this  day 
was  beautiful  and  interesting,  but  my  mind  was  not  at 
ease  in  it  and  my  stay  was  short.  Too  much  care,  cost  and 
thought  to  gratify  the  mind  that  loves  the  simplicity  of 
Christ. 

Tues.,  Aug.  ii. — The  wages  of  the  mechanics  and  of 
many  descriptions  of  labourers  are  now  excessive.  The 
contemplative  mind  cannot  but  regret  the  demoralisation  and 
intemperance  the  present  state  of  things  induces.  Want  I 
believe  will  follow  this  waste,  for  in  my  observation  it  hath 
ever  been  one  extreme  follows  another,  and  although  at 
the  present  time  there  seems  nothing  but  prosperity  in  the 
future,  yet  I  believe  that  a  blast,  and  a  terrible  one,  will  over 
take  this  season  of  national  prosperity. 

Soon  after  this  entry,  he  records  the  rumours  of 
the  alarming  failure  of  the  potato  crop. 

Tues.,  Aug.  25.— Went  to  Marsk  and  much  enjoyed  the 
company  of  my  beloved  Joseph  and  Emma,  and  eleven  of 
their  children. 


232  EDWARD  PEASE.  1846 

But  he  is  pained,  (but  does  not  say  so,  as  that 
would  give  pain,)  at  the  fancy  ornamentation  of  the 
new  buildings  and  costly  superfluities. 

Fri,.  Sept.  4: — An  account  received  this  day  from  my 
nephew,  Wm.  Whitwell,  at  York,  that  no  traces  of  his  poor 
brother  Isaac  could  be  found  .  .  .  fears  that  he  had 
drowned  himself.* 

He  counts  on  the  5th  of  September  the  number 
of  his  family  he  has  seen  "  deposited  in  the  silent 
Grave  "  : 

One  grandfather. 

Two  grandmothers. 

Six  uncles. 

Four  aunts. 

Father  and  mother. 

Two  sisters. 

One  brother. 

An  unspeakably  dear  wife. 

Two  sons. 

One  daughter. 

"  Surely  the  solemn  day  when  my  mortal  remains  must 
be  added  to  this  company  cannot  be  remote." 

On  the  nth  he  sends  four  "  Friends  "  going  to 
America  each  £50,  but  it  is  returned  to  him  as  "  they 
deemed  it  more  safe  to  be  free  from  any  inquiry 
respecting  pecuniary  things." 

It  is  wonderful  how  he  travels  to  Ackworth,  Ayton, 
Tottenham,  or  anywhere  at  his  age,  and  he  still  takes 
an  interest  in  the  concern  of  Robert  Stephenson  &  Co., 
and  puts  his  son  Joseph  into  the  deed  of  partner 
ship  on  the  28th  October,  and  another  day  he  con 
gratulates  himself  at  not  seizing  an  easy  opportunity 
of  increasing  his  riches,  and  he  writes,  "  Such  is  the 
fluctuation  in  things  temporal  that  now  the  coal 

*  He  did  not  do  this. 


Act.  79  CHRISTIAN  BROTHERHOOD.  233 

owners    are    pursuing   a   gainful    track    after  a  long 
season  greatly  the  reverse." 

Fri.,  Nov.  6.— Heard  of  the  death  of  Robert  Walker,  of 
York.  ...  A  Friend.  He  married  one  of  the  dear  and 
early  intimates  of  my  precious  Rachel,  then  Alice  Birkbeck,* 
first  married  to  Benjamin  Horner.  .  .  . 

Sat.,  Nov.  7. — .  .  .  The  state  of  the  poor  in  Ireland  is 
affecting.  A  dire  famine  has  begun  its  devastation.  May  my 
heart  be  opened  to  give ;  duty,  love  and  gratitude  to  Him  who 
has  done  so  much  for  me,  demands  this  at  my  hands.  [He 
sends  £200.] 

Sat.,  Nov.  21. — Morning  commenced  with  very  animated 
converse  on  the  part  of  Mildred  Hustler,  respecting  coals  and 
mining,  in  which  every  faculty  of  his  busy  immature  judg 
ment  seemed  turned  with  fullest  confidence  of  success.  When 
I  remembered  the  dignity  of  his  grandfather,  his  quiet 
religious  mind  maturing  that  great  work,  the  Leeds  and 
Liverpool  Canal,  and  his  pious  dedicated  grandmother, 
Christiana  Hustler,  and  his  worthy  father,  my  brother-in-law 
John  Hustler,  I  could  only  lament  over  this  youth. 

Sat.,  Dec.  12. — Snow  very  deep  on  the  Ground  this  morning. 
In  the  various  meetings  now  taking  place  for  the  advance 
ment  of  Christian  Brotherhood,  total  abstinence,  peace 
meetings,  anti-slavery  meetings,  Bible  meetings,  all  of  which 
may  be  said  to  have  the  semblance  and  surface  of  good  in  them, 
and  some  deeper  than  that — yet  my  fear  is  that  among  my 
dear  junior  friends,  and  some  older,  there  is  more  of  a  resting 
in  doing  good  in  this  way  than  in  that  taking  up  a  daily 
cross  to  all  that  is  of  creaturely  activity,  in  place  of  pious 
co-operation  with  divine  Grace. 

*  Alice  Birkbeck,  born  1 774,  daughter  of  William  Birkbeck  and 
his  wife  Sarah,  n&e  Braithwaite.  Her  brother,  George  Birkbeck,  M.D., 
married  a  Lloyd  and  was  one  of  the  originators  of  Mechanics'  Institutes. 
Her  eldest  brother  was  William  Birkbeck,  of  Settle.  These  three  were 
first  cousins  of  Henry  Birkbeck,  born  1787,  who  married  Jane  Gurney, 
a  sister  of  Emma  Pease. 


234  EDWARD  PEASE.  1846 

Wed.,  Dec.  23. — Much  within  doors  writing  and  reading ; 
works  of  fancy  and  mere  entertainment,  so  attractive  to  me 
till  almost  middle  life,  have  ceased  to  have  any  charm.  .  .  . 

On  Christmas  Day  he  goes  to  Middlesbrough  to 
try  and  do  something  "  to  influence  a  female  not  a 
member,  to  keep  silence  in  our  meetings,"  but  he 
seems  to  think  he  had  not  succeeded.  He  misses  his 
train,  and  has  to  spend  the  whole  day  there. 

He  ends  the  year  with  a  prayer,  as  he  cannot  expect 
to  see  another  one,  that  he  may  be  kept  for  his  few 
remaining  days  near  to  God,  and  exclaims,  "  and  fulfil 
that  gracious  promise,  my  soul,  through  the  influence 
of  the  Spirit  of  thy  Son,  once  did  grant  to  me,  that 
thy  Guardian  Angel  should  be  with  me  when  I  passed 
through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death." 


CHAPTER  XI. 

1847. 

THIS  year  the  diary  contains  an  extraordinary 
record  of  Edward  Pease's  activity  and  vigour 
in  his  eightieth  year.  He  travels,  he  visits,  he  enter 
tains,  he  attends  meetings  and  committees,  and  much 
against  his  will,  owing  to  the  business  troubles  of  a 
disastrous  year,  he  is  dragged  into  pecuniary  worries. 
Between  the  leaves  of  this  journal  I  found  an  unused 
Mulready  envelope,  endorsed  in  his  handwriting, 
"  One  of  the  first  envelopes  issued  by  the  General 
Post  Office  on  the  establishment  of  the  Penny  Postage," 
and  a  printed  lecture  by  Joseph  Pease  on  "  the  Bible." 
The  entries  more  than  ever  are  religious  in  tone,  and 
for  the  most  part  his  self-examination  is  self-condemn- 
tory,  especially  in  respect  to  his  wandering,  "  earthly, 
useless  and  hated  thoughts,"  which  he  likens  to  "  bars 
of  iron  "  barring  the  "  door  of  access."  Often  he 
finds  the  "  heavens  as  brass,"  but  almost  as  often 
has  "  drops  of  rich  consolation,"  or  feels  the  "descend 
ing  of  heavenly  love  and  influence."  He  spends  some 
time  over  the  proofs  of  Joseph  John  Gurney's  MS.* 
sent  him  by  his  widow,  and  sees  a  good  deal  of  his  old 
friend,  Thomas  Richardson  ;  these  two  old  gentlemen 
stay  with  each  other,  and  seem  congenial  spirits. 

*  There  is  in  my  possession  a  large  folio  volume  of  these  proofs 
with  inserted  illustrations.  From  this  the  Memoirs  of  Joseph  John 
Gurney  were  compiled.  Three  similar  copies  exist,  one  at  Keswick  Hall, 
one  at  Grove  Hill,  Falmouth,  the  other  at  Devonshire  House. 

235 


236  EDWARD  PEASE.  1847 

On  January  ist  he  begins  by  recording  his  impres 
sion  that  he  will  not  live  to  see  the  end  of  the  year  ; 
his  apprehension  is  that  his  dissolution  may  be  accom 
plished  by  paralysis,  and  he  says, 

if  so,  may  I  not  continue  long  a  burden  to  a  family  as  precious 
to  me  and  as  affectionate  as  any  parent  was  ever  blessed  with 

As    my    death   may   touch   their   minds 

with  sorrow  so  it  carries  grief  and  sadness  to  my  mind 
when  I  think  of  their  weeping  for  me  ;  may  their  tears  soon 
be  dried  up  by  a  thankful  remembrance  of  what  a  long  life 
of  granted  health  and  happiness  has  been  mine — any  streaks 
of  woe  and  distress  that  have  been  in  it  are  all  now  counted 
as  drops  of  more  marked  mercy  and  purification. 

Wed.,  Jan.  6. —  :  :  :  Returned  home.  :  :  :  On 
stepping  out  on  to  the  platform,  was  met  by  my  dear  John, 
who,  after  a  little  time,  told  us  that  the  vital  spark  had 
left  dear  Joseph  John  Gurney's  tabernacle.  It  was  and  remains 
to  be  an  affecting  stroke  to  me  ;  he  was  a  man  I  loved  as  a 
Brother,  and  among  his  fellow-citizens  and  in  our  Society  he 
might  justly  be  deemed  a  prince. 

I  mention  the  following  to  show  how  often  his 
premonitions  are  incorrect  :  he  says  he  has  had  a 
sense  of  "  giddiness,"  and  has  not  had  his  "  usual 
flow  of  spirits  "  on  the  gth  January. 

I  was  willing  to  accept  this  light  indisposition  as  a  pre- 
cursive  warning  of  its  being  not  improbably  the  forerunner 
of  some  paralysis  and  in  some  feeling  that  my  hour  must  soon 
come. 

Sat.,  Jan.  23. — Engaged  in  writing  to  sundry  Friends, 
to  Thos.  Evans,  of  Philadelphia,  encouraged  him  to  print  an 
edition  of  his  Exposition  of  the  faith  and  doctrine  of  Friends. 
He  proposes  to  print  1,500,  to  cost  $600,  I  agree  to  take  500, 
and  contribute  $200.  This  very  valuable  work  merits  a  large 
circulation. 


Aet.  80  JANE  M.  BARCLAY.  237 

Thurs.,  Feb.  4. — A  female  who  was  born  and  educated 
Gipsey,  but  early  taken  from  them,  had  become  a  Wesleyan ; 
on  First-day  she  spoke  rather  long  in  the  meeting,  warning 
friends  to  repent,  and  that  days  of  great  distress  were  coming 
on  the  Land,  that  famine  and  bloodshed  were  approaching,  that 

the  inhabitants  of  their  country  must  prepare  for  it 

How  far  this  is  the  excitement  of  pious  enthusiasm  I  do  not 
determine,  but  there  was  visitation  of  heavenly  love  my 
conversation  with  her  led  me  to  believe. 

Wed.,  Feb.  10. — Wrote  home  [from  Bristol]  to  dear  Emma 
on  a  momentous  subject  I  had  thrown  before  my  dear  Henry's 
consideration  ;  in  doing  this,  my  motive  was  to  advance  his 
happiness  ;  the  position  of  the  individual  seemed  to  leave 
rather  a  lively  impression  on  my  mind  of  being  suitable, 
and  was  entirely  irrespective  of  any  height  of  family  alliance 
or  increase  of  property.  Ah  my  heart  knows  right  well, 
my  Lord,  I  believe  knows,  that  moderate,  not  great  possessions, 
held  in  a  reverent  sense  of  only  being  a  dependent  steward, 
is  my  desire. 

One  day  this  week  he  takes  himself  to  task  for 
two  or  three  days'  "  desultory  reading  "  and  "  looking 
into  newspapers.'* 

Many  entries  occur,  referring  to  the  idea  of  Henry 
Pease  remarrying.  The  lady  in  view  was  a  first  cousin 
of  my  father,  Jane  Mary  Barclay,  who,  however, 
died  single,  aged  81,  in  1899.  When  dying,  she 
said  to  my  father,  "  Joseph,  thou  art  almost  the  last 
of  my  generation,  and  the  only  one  left  with  whom 
I  have  anything  in  common,"  and  asked  him  to  kiss 
her.  She  was  a  sister  of  Joseph  Gurney  Barclay,  of 
Knott's  Green,  Leytonstone. 

The  following  is  interesting  as  an  instance  of  Quaker 
formality  in  the  serious  business  of  matrimony  : 

Tues.,  Feb.  2.—  :  .  .  Wrote  an  important  letter  to 
Robert  Barclay,  stating  my  Son  Henry's  regard  for  his  Jane 


238  EDWARD  PEASE.  1847 

Mary  and  enclosing  Henry's  leave  to  come  to  Ley  ton  [i.e., 
Edward  Pease's  consent.] 

Sat.,  5. — He  goes  to  London  :  .  .  to  see  R.  Barclay 
on  my  dear  Son  Henry's  account,  had  an  agreeable  interview, 
and  obtained  for  him  all  I  could  wish — that  he  might  see 
Jane  Mary. 

He  pays  various  visits,  stays  at  Coggeshall,  and 
is  pleased  to  see  many  "solid  Friends  "  at  the  meeting 
there.  He  stays  at  Walden,  and  goes  on  to  Earlham. 

Tues.,  March  23. — Arrived  at  Earlham,  had  a  most  sor 
rowing  meeting  [i.e.,  with  Mrs.  Jos.  Jno.  Gurney]  amid  many 
sobs  and  tears  under  a  sense  of  her  bereaved  condition. 

Wed.  24. — He  goes  into  Norwich  and  attends  the  Quarterly 

Meeting In  the  evening,  the  Select  Quarterly 

Meeting,  the  most  painful  and  personal  I  ever  attended, 
arising  from  a  great  indiscretion  of  a  personal  attack  the  aged 
Clerk  of  the  Meeting  made  ;  calling  forth  some  replies  that 
would  have  better  been  omitted — We  were  f  avord  to  part  in 
some  quiet  and  peace. 

Thurs.,  April  8. — Henry  goes  to  Leyton:  May  the 
object  of  his  important  pursuit  be  obtained,  or  if  otherwise, 
may  all  work  for  good 

Mon.,  April  12. — At  Newcastle  with  my  son  Joseph, 
and  Cousin  T.  Richardson.  Looked  over  the  very  interesting 

large  Forth  Street  works,    etc we    agreed    to 

£1,000  each — how  unexpectedly  has  this  been  made  a  source 
of  considerable  profit  to  me.  .  .  . 

He  expresses  a  hope  that  he  may  be  given  "  a  heart 
not  covetously  to  keep,"  but  "  to  freely  dispense." 
The  next  day  he  visits  Middlesbrough  and  Redcar, 
and  goes  on  to  stay  with  his  son  Joseph,  at  Marsk, 
but  it  is  "  an  alloy  to  my  full  enjoyment  to  see  my  dear 
son  expending  money,  time  and  care  in  a  place  which 


Act.  80  J.  BE  VAN  BRAITHWAITE.  239 

seems  as  if  it  would  be  but  a  transient  and  temporary 
residence  to  fall  into  early  neglect  and  non-repair. 
Oh  the  purest  guidance  I  think  would,  if  allow'd, 
except  out  of  this  self-gratification."  The  next  day 
he  "  enjoys  a  morning  walk  among  the  beautiful  and 
interesting  ruins  of  Guisbro'  Abbey,"  and  then  goes 
on  to  Ayton  to  stay  at  Cleveland  Lodge  and  visit  the 
school. 

Sun.,  April  18. — At  Meeting,  J.  Bevan  Braithwaite,  a 
humble-minded  man,  was  with  us,  and  heard  in  an  acceptable 
ministry  ;  in  the  evening  a  large  public  meeting  was  held, 
his  exercise  was  to  bring  man  from  all  dependence  on  his 
fellow  man  and  from  all  outward  rites  and  ceremonies,  as 
having  no  soul  saving  efficacy  in  them  and  from  all  considera 
tions,  that  Bishops  and  Priests,  as  now  exercising  their  offices, 
act  in  accordance  with  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  for  He  was  the 
only  High  Priest  of  His  own  Church,  and  God  over  all  blessed 
for  ever. 

Mon.,  April  19. — B.  Braithwaite  returned  to  London, 
relieved,  I  believe,  in  mind,  and  in  much  peace — his  matter  is 
good  and  sound,  his  appearance,  his  manner  and  voice,  are 
against  him,  his  exhortations  from  these  causes  have  less  of 
power,  authority  and  dignity  attending  them  than  one  could 
desire,  as  greater  edification  would  flow  into  the  minds  of  his 
auditors  under  different  circumstances  : — yet  I  cannot  doubt 
but  his  sound  gospel  truths  were  indelibly  fixed  on  some 
minds. 

Joseph  Bevan  Braithwaite  was  born  in  1818, 
so  would  now  be  about  twenty-nine  years  of  age. 
He  was  a  barrister  and  a  good  classical  and  Hebrew 
scholar.  In  1840  he  entered  Chambers  under  the 
late  John  Hodgkin,  and  was  called  to  the  Bar  in  1843. 
He  died  in  1905.  He  was  a  man  of  great  sympathy 
and  benevolence,  beloved  by  the  Society  in  general, 
and  wielding  a  great  influence  among  its  members. 


240  EDWARD  PEASE.  1847 

To  my  grandfather  and  father  he  was  ever  a  counsellor 
and  friend.  His  peculiar  manner  in  preaching  was  due, 
I  always  thought,  to  his  struggles  with  a  very  trying 
impediment  in  his  speech,  but  when  once  the  hearer 
could  forget  this  sufficiently  to  listen  and  follow  his 
sermons,  he  would  have  to  admit  they  were  of  a 
high  order,  and  came  from  an  evidently  pure  and 
charitable  heart. 

Wed.,  April  21. — Heard  this  morning  of  the  death  of 
Dr.  Trios.  Bevan,  of  London,  the  husband  of  my  cousin 
Hannah  Bevan,  leaving  her  with  the  arduous  charge  of  five 
sons  and  one  daughter*.  .  .  .  .  • 

Mon.,  May  3. — Long  continued  very  cheerless  wet  weather. 
No  wind,  and  now,  at  10  o'clock,  thermometer  at  43,  the 
mean  heat  of  last  month  said  to  be  two  degrees  less  than  in  any 
month  the  last  21  years.  The  prospect  of  a  very  late  harvest 
begins  to  be  feared,  and  corn  is  now  dear,  I2s.  per  bushel, 
potatoes  6s.  8d.  per  bushel.  The  prospect  for  the  poor 
engaged  in  manufacture,  cotton  especially  is  very  gloomy. 
Iron  trade  good. 

Fri.,  May  7. — Left  home  this  morning  by  Railway  to 
Newcastle,  thence  to  Berwick  by  mail  coach,  the  Railway  not 
complete  in  this  space,  and  to  Edinbro'. 

He  travels  to  Edinburgh  to  attend  the  half- 
yearly  meeting  there.  Among  the  sufferings  under 
consideration  is  one  of  a  young  man,  "  imprisoned 
for  a  month  for  not  taking  an  Oath,"  and  "a  petition 
to  the  Queen  agreed  on." 

By  the  I2th  May  he  is  back  at  home,  and  notes, 
"  Saw  two  swallows,  the  first  this  year."  After  a 

*  Thomas  Bevan,  M.D.,  died  aged  forty-two  ;  his  widow,  Hannah 
Mareshall  Bevan  settled  at  Darlington  in  1852,  where  two  of  her  sons 
resided.  She  died  at  Penge,  in  her  seventy-seventh  year,  in  1874. 
Her  maiden  name  was  Bennet.  I  cannot  trace  the  cousinship  with 
Edward  Pease,  though  various  mutual  connections  exist. 


Act.  80  AT  YEARLY  MEETING.  241 

day  or  two  he  travels  south  to  the  London  Yearly 
Meeting,  and  speaks  of  the  "  beautiful  country," 
and  "  the  sweetness  of  all  Nature,"  at  Tottenham, 
where  he  stays  with  "  Cousins  George  and  M.  Stacey." 

Thurs.,  May  20. — Deeply  tried  on  consideration  of  my 
beloved  Joseph  and  Henry's  affairs  being  so  extended 
that  it  is  needful  that  their  brother  G.,  with  H.  B. 
[F.  Gibson  and  Henry  Birkbeck,  both  bankers]  should  have 
to  assist  them.  May  this  prove  a  lesson  of  instruction  to 
them  and  us  all,  lessening  our  anxiety  about  earthly  things. 

During  the  Yearly  Meeting  he  accompanies  his 
"  dear  friend  W.  Forster,  into  the  Women's  Meeting." 
W.  Forster  makes  a  "  powerful  appeal  to  mind  the 
light,  and  its  safe  direction,"  and  sets  before  Friends 
the  manner  "  how  precious  time  was  spent  in  orna 
mental  needlework  that  might  be  so  usefully  employed 
for  the  poor,  and  how  much  larger  would  be  the  share 
of  mental  peace  .  .  ."  Time  makes  little  difference 
to  his  expression  of  devotion  to  his  lost  Rachel.  On 
June  4th  he  begins  the  entry,  "  Those  impressive  words 
which  were  sealed  on  my  spirit  when  my  beloved 
Rachel  heaved  her  last  sigh,  '  Cherish  my  memory/ 
have  often  of  late  tenderly  been  felt." 

Sat.,  June  5. — Spent  near  an  hour  in  reading  a  newspaper, 
a  waste  of  time  I  am  nearly  always  condemned  for — 
beware. — I  learn  that  Edward  Oxley  is  no  more.  A  close  to 
speculation  and  ambition.  .  .  .  [Then  follow  lamenta 
tions  over  his  family's  political  and  commercial  pursuits]. 

On  June  16  he  goes  to  York  with  John  to  attend 
the  marriage  of  John  R.  Proctor  to  Lydia  Richardson,* 

*  Edward  Pease  was  related  to  both  parties.  John  Richardson 
Proctor,  one  of  the  Tyne  Commissioners,  was  related  to  him  through 
his  mother,  a  Richardson,  and  Lydia  Richardson  was  one  of  the  same 
family,  but  of  Cherry  Hill,  York. 

18 


242  EDWARD  PEASE.  1847 

"  which  was  very  agreeably  solemnised  "  in  a  "  solid 
instructive  meeting." 

The  next  day  he  attends  "  the  interment  of  a  man 
named  Peto,"  and  at  meeting  is  "  cruelly  persecuted 
by  wandering  thoughts."  The  following  day,  however, 
he  records,  "  He  led  me  to  His  banqueting  house, 
and  His  banner  over  me  was  love." 

The  same  day,  "  Feelings  of  distress  are  in  my 
mind  for  the  state  of  many  poor  men  and  families 
who  have  long  served  me  and  my  family,  the  sad  low 
rate  of  wages,  and  the  scarcity  of  work,  the  cessation 
of  all  trades  almost."  In  July  we  find  him  as  usual, 
"  engaged  with  my  hay."  Among  his  visitors  in  July 
is  "  Lydia  Majolier  "*  :  "  Her  kindness  to  my  son  and 
me  at  Congenies  is  freshly  remembered  ;  she  is  an 
ingenuous,  sincere-minded  Friend." 

On  the  2ist  July  he  goes  with  Joseph  "  up  the 
railway  as  far  as  Rodeymoor  ;  very  extensive  are 
the  varied  mining  concerns,  coal  and  iron,  which  are 
opening  out  in  that  district." 

He  is  interested  in  Thos.  Richardson's  collection 
of  "  remarkable  events,  gathered  from  testimonies, 
narratives  and  other  sources  of  upwards  of  1,000 
individuals,"  and  remarks  on  his  diligence  and  says 
"  his  general  acquaintance  with  the  writings  of  early 
Friends  is  remarkable." 

On  the  27th  July  he  declares  his  heart  is  full  of 
tender  and  mournful  sympathy  for  his  sons  :  "  their 
load  of  care  from  exhausted  capital  in  a  business 
where  the  loss  has  not  been  less  than  £60,000." 

As  an  instance  out  of  many,  of  his  devotion  to  his 
servants  on  the  2Qth  July,  hearing  "  my  worthy 
and  very  valuable  servant,  Jas.  Burton,  was  near  his 

*  Lydia  Majolier,  died  1889,  aet.  eighty-three.  She  was  a  sister 
of  Christine  Alsop,  nbe  Majolier.  The  Majoliers  belonged  to  a  spiritual 
branch  of  the  Camisards,  who  had  independently  developed  a  religion 
akin  to  Quakerism  before  coming  into  contact  with  English  Friends. 


Act.  80  ELECTION  DAY.  243 

end,  I  conclude  if  a  steamer  for  Whitby  touch  here 
(Seaton)  to-morrow,  as  it  has  the  two  past  days,  to  go 
there  to  see  him." 

In  August  we  find  him  with  his  "  beloved  Joseph 
and  Emma  "  at  Marsk  ;  "  with  them  and  in  them 
my  affectionate  enjoyment  is  complete,"  but  not  en 
tirely  so  in  their  "  mansion,"  "  because  in  it  and  about, 
the  pure  simplicity  of  Jesus,  by  whom  the  world  is 
crucified  to  us  and  we  to  the  world,  is  in  degree  departed 
from." 

On   the   3rd   August : 

To-moro  is  the  day  of  nomination  for  members  of 
Parliament.  Great  is  my  satisfaction  that  my  dear  family  is 
out  of  that  excitement  which  oft  exists  at  such  times. 

On   the   4th   August    (the   Election   Day)  : 

This  is  a  day  of  bustle  in  the  town ;  I  am  thankful  I  have 
no  feeling  or  part  in  it,  unless  some  disappointment  in  re 
turning  an  unworthy  person,  "  Farrar,"  with  Lord  Henry 
Vane. 

Fri.t  Aug.  6. — Lord  Henry  Vane,  who  lodged  at  my  house 
last  night,  left  this  morning,  his  quiet  easy  satisfied  demeanour 
with  his  general  intelligence  prevented  any  irksomeness  in 
his  company ;  indeed,  on  the  whole,  it  was  interesting.  I 
trust  that  in  adviting  to  a  better  legislation  accordant  with 
my  religious  principles,  I  was  on  the  side  of  truth  against 
corruption. 

Sat.,  Aug.  5.  — Went  with  my  friends  Samuel  and  Ann 
Rhoades  to  see  Raby  Castle ;  its  extent,  antiquity  and  highly 
ornamented  magnificence  had  a  large  share  of  their  admiration. 
I  had  a  conference  with  the  Duke  of  Cleveland,  respecting 
the  late  election.  My  desire  that  he  should  subscribe  to  the 
Bible  Society,  and  desired  him  to  hasten  the  conclusion  of 
the  pending  negotiation  with  Friends  for  an  addition  to  the 
burying  ground.* 

*  i.e.,  at  Darlington,  where  the  Duke  was  a  landowner. 


244  EDWARD  PEASE.  1847 

He  notices  the  progress  of  the  harvest,  and  delights 
in  the  prospect  of  "  the  flowing  and  golden  fields," 
and  that  wheat  which  "  a  month  ago  was  sold  at  I2s.  6d. 
per  bushel  is  now  about  8s.  6d." 

Sun.,  Aug.  22. — This  day  the  remains  of  my  dear  cousin 
John  Backhouse  were  interred,  aged  about  sixty-four  years. 
During  his  long  confinement  and  exclusion  from  active  life 
for  the  past  six  years  no  murmur  or  repining  escaped  his  lips, 
his  disposition,  not  naturally  gentle,  became  through  the 
refining  grace  remarkably  otherwise,  as  his  sweet  pious 
demeanour  and  gentleness  evidenced.  His  end  was 
peace.  .  . 

This  week  he  goes  with  his  daughter  Rachel  and 
her  husband,  Richard  Fry,  to  Shotley,  and  had 

a  most  kind  reception  from  Cousin  Jonathan  Richardson  and 

his  Ann I  have  seldom  been  in  a  more  complete 

habitation  than  Jonathan  Richardson's,  or  with  a  more  kind 
bountiful-minded  man. 

He  hears  on  the  27th  August  of  the  death  of  a 
Friend  he  much  valued,  Abm.  Beale,*  of  Cork  : 

The  citizens  of  Cork  will  bewail  his  loss  ...  he  was 
most  exertively  useful  during  the  famine  calamity  ... 
and  being  attacked  with  famine  fever,  this  was  the 
messenger  permitted  to  close  his  useful  life. 

Sat,.  Aug.  28. — Conversing  last  evening  with  my  beloved 
John  and  Sophia  on  those  last  very  solemn  offices  which  may 
soon  have  to  be  tendered  to  my  dust,  I  expressed  my  earnest 
wish  that  I  might  be  inter' d  as  my  forefathers  have  been, 
all  simple,  quiet,  plain,  no  particular  chosen  spot,  no  walled 
and  white-washed  Grave,  nor  anything  to  mark  where  one  so 
unworthy  was  buried. 

*  Abraham  Beale  died  August  22nd,  aet  fifty-four.  "  He  possessed 
a  refined  and  cultivated  literary  taste,"  and  was  a  man  in  affluent 
circumstances  and  of  very  amiable  manners. 


Act.  80  SIR  ROBERT  PEEL.  245 

In  the  main  his  wishes  were  respected,  but  I  am 
glad  to  say  that  his  burial  place  is  marked  by  the  plain 
headstone  that  is  now  permitted  in  Friends'  grave 
yards.  My  father  also  had  erected  a  headstone  on 
the  grave  of  Joseph  Pease,  the  father  of  Edward, 
though  the  earlier  generations  of  my  family  lie 
in  unmarked  graves  in  the  present  Friends'  Burial 
Ground  at  Darlington,  or  in  the  old  graveyard  hard  by, 
now  built  over. 

Wed.,  Sept.  i. — Went  up  to  Darlington  (from  Marsk) 
attended  to  some  home  cares,  found  the  town  excited  in  expect 
ation  of  seeing  Sir  Robert  Peel  and  presenting  an  address 
to  him,  approving  of  his  free  trade  policy  and  political 
conduct  generally.  Left  home  in  the  evening,  and  the  whole 
town  in  a  bustle  to  meet  him  on  his  coming,  the  shops  closing 
at  4  o'clock.  I  learn  that  the  assembled  and  highly  gratified 
throng  in  the  Town  Hall  was  upwards  of  2,000.  How  recently 
the  man  now  cheered  and  huzzaed  was  the  object  of  dislike 
and  hate  by  those  who  now  extol  him. 

Thurs.,  Sept.  2. — At  Guisbro,  not  much  refreshed, 
there  was  a  peaceful  satisfaction  in  there  assembling  with 
worshippers  in  silence  .... 

Friday,  loth  September,  finds  him  at  Kendal, 
where  he 

received  many  calls  from  my  relations  towards  whom  there 
was  in  my  mind  much  of  affection,  but  in  most  of  those  who 
called  I  felt  there  was  not  that  bond  of  sweet  outward  peace 
which  flows  where  unity  of  spirit  accompanies.  .... 

The  next  day  he  has  the  same  sort  of  feeling  when 
visiting  the  beautiful  residence  of  his  "  nephew  Joseph 
Clay,"  at  the  east  end  of  Windermere.  He  enjoys, 
however,  seeing  their  "  lovely  looking  flock  of  five." 

On  Sunday  he  "  sat  the  meeting,  bewailing 
for  that  scattering  which  has  been  among  Friends 


246  EDWARD  PEASE.  1847 

here,  especially  among  my  relations,  who  have  generally 
resigned  their  membership,  so  that  this  meeting, 
which  fifty  years  ago  had  230  members,  has  now  but 
130  .  .  ."  The  next  day  he  breakfasts  with 
"  Cousin  W.  D.  Crewdson,"  and  praises  his  kindness 
and  natural  disposition,  but  groans  over  "  Love 
without  unity  "  ;  he  dines  with  his  "  nephew,  W. 
Whit  well,"  at  Tolson  Hall,  and  is  at  a  "  large  party 
at  John  Wilson's,"  but  "  nearly  all  the  company  were 
alienated  Friends." 

Here  is  a  very  singular  entry  : — 

Fri.,  Sept.  17. — A  very  busy  scene  at  the  horticultural 
Show.  I  did  not  feel  free  to  attend,  as  some  of  the  nobility 
were  expected,  and  I  anticipated  the  exhibition  of  some 
unwise  crouching  to  aristocracy,  entirely  at  variance  with 
the  simplicity  of  Christ. — All  that  I  anticipated  of  mutual 
insincere  flattery,  so  common  among  the  great,  and  an  uproar 
and  various  cheering  was  exhibited — the  presence  of  my 
dear  fellow  professors  does  not  entirely  accord  with  my  views 
of  the  narrow  way. 

During  this  month  he  notices  the  death  of  "  Emma 
Barclay  "  (Emma  Lucy  Barclay,  a  niece  of  Emma 
Pease's).  On  the  2gth,  "  My  dear  grandchild,  Sophia, 
[afterwards  Lady  Fry]  by  a  fall  from  her  horse, 
broke  the  main  bone  in  the  leg." 

Sat.,  Oct.  2. — This  is  a  most  awful  and  trying  juncture 
to  everyone  engaged  in  extensive  concerns,  mercantile,  mining, 
banking,  etc.  The  failure  of  most  extensive  firms  in  London, 
whose  stability  was  not  doubted,  have  stop'd  payment  to 
the  amount  of  many  millions,  besides  the  millions  lost  in  the 
corn  trade,  so  that  houses  in  London  that  have  much  wealth 
will  not  discount  bills,  not  knowing  how  they  may  be  called 
up  for  lodgments  in  their  hands.  I  am  deeply  concerned 
to  see  my  Sons  Jos.  and  H.  so  perplexed  hereby. 


Act.  80  TRADE  DEPRESSION.  247 

The  next  day  he  reverts  at  length  to  this  subject, 
and  to  the  "  exceeding  gloom  and  anxiousness  to  all 
persons  "  and  adds, 

Employment  on  railways  has  become  limited — instalments 
on  shares,  which  have  exceedingly  depreciated,  have  nearly 
ceased  to  be  paid — the  cotton  spinners  in  Lancaster  have  all 
exceedingly  reduced  their  works,  and  many  closed  altogether — 
discount  is  seven  to  eight  per  cent.,  three  per  cent.  Consols 
80,  that  in  labour  and  materials  a  great  reduction  I  believe 
is  near  at  hand,  and  during  the  winter  months  will  be  fright 
fully  felt Iron  concerns  the  most  profitable 

and  prosperous. 

The  next  day  : 

Money  and  credit,  even  by  houses  of  high  respectability, 
is  not  obtainable,  and  a  large  thriving  iron  concern  is  expected 
to  stop  to-moro.  My  anxiety  for  my  beloved  family  is  very 
great,  and  my  apprehensions  at  times  are  great,  that  ere  I 
go  down  to  the  grave  I  may  see  great  and  sore  troubles. 

This  month  he  entertains  the  deputation  (W. 
Brown),  and  some  friends  in  his  efforts  to  promote 
the  success  of  the  meeting  of  the  Bible  Society  :  "  hav 
ing  ever  been  desirous  to  promote  the  universal  cir 
culation  of  the  Holy  Scriptures."  "  Few  have  a 
more  high  value  of  the  Bible  and  its  circulation  ; 
without  it  what  is  man — with  it  and  the  blest  inter 
preter,  the  holy  Spirit,  in  which  it  was  written,  what 
does  become  as  a  son  of  God." 

One  morning  he  puts  down  that  after  "  reading," 
he  offered  "  a  few  remarks  to  my  servants  on  the 
words,  '  The  Kingdom  of  God  is  within  you.'  .  . 
"  I  hope  I  may  not  have  meddled  with  things  too  high 
for  me."  Another  day,  "  Having  now  for  several 
weeks  employed  two  or  three  men  in  my  fields  doing 
things  not  in  all  cases  necessary,  I  feel  for  them  in 


248  EDWARD  PEASE.  1847 

having  to   discharge   them."     On   the   2gth   October, 
Joseph  has  to  go  to  London. 

In  this  most  anxious  time  the  failure  of  the  Union  Bank 
(Chapman  &  Co.)  of  Newcastle,  will  greatly  affect  that  place, 
Shields  and  Sunderland,  and  the  failure  of  the  banks  at 
Liverpool  and  Glasgow  seems  spreading  a  wide  calamity  over 
the  land. 

On  the  30th  he  is  depressed  by  the  fear  of  the  credit 
of  his  family  being  injured  from  these  calamities, 
and  the  enormous  loss  in  business,  and  he  feels 
"  keenly  the  words  of  the  Apostle  that  '  they  that 
will  be  rich  fall  into  temptation  and  a  snare.'  Into 
this  my  dear  Joseph  has  fallen,  and  while  without 
anxiety  to  be  rich,  I  fear  I  have  not  kept  quite  out  of 
this  snare." 

On  November  3rd  : 

Some  little  cheering  in  London  from  the  Government 
helping  the  Bank  of  England.  .  .  .  Joseph,  who  is  yet  in 
the  City  .  .  .  reports  that  the  faces  of  bankers  and  all 
gather  paleness,  and  none  feel  their  difficulties  more  than 
London  Banks.  In  order  to  maintain  dear  Joseph's  credit,  I 
gave  the  National  and  Provincial  Bank  a  guarantee  for 
£10,000  with  great  reluctance.  .  .  . 

But  a  few  days  after  he  has  to  give  "  an  un 
limited  guarantee,"  and  in  a  fit  of  despondency  about 
Joseph  and  Henry,  he  puts  down, 

I  wrote  from  this  place  (Newcastle)  to  dear  Joseph  in  terms 
that  I  now  regret,  and  which  deeply  disquiet  me.  That  he 
has  a  great  load  to  carry  and  is  carrying  it  for  my  family 
in  all  its  branches,  no  distress  surely  ought  to  be  added  by 
me.  .  .  . 

And  day  by  day  the  "  cloud  gets  darker,"  till  the 
igth,  when  Joseph  came  home  from  London 


Aet.  80  FAMINE  IN  IRELAND.  249 

somewhat  relieved  in  mind,  but  it  is  a  time  of  shaking 
us  as  in  our  Nests,  and  proving  to  us  that  safe  treasure 
is  only  in  heaven. 

In  December  "  the  Collieries  prove  to  be  in  a  very 
prosperous  state,"  and  also  Joseph  brings  from  New 
castle  "  a  promising  account  of  Forth  Street  and  its 
pecuniary  expectations." 

At  home  he  spends  some  of  the  last  days  of  the 
year  in  such  occupations  as  revising  the  proof  sheets 
of  "  dear  J.  J.  G/s  memoranda." 

On  the  3ist  December  (New  Year's  Eve)  : 

I  had  much  comfort  in  seeing  my  three  Sons,  two  Daughters, 
and  ten  Grandchildren  surround  my  table  to  dine,  etc.,  this 
day.  Their  society  was  sweet  and  peaceful.  Gratitude  as 
large  as  my  heart  is  capable  of  fills  it  for  the  favour  of  this 
affectionate  assemblage,  and  for  the  refreshment  placed  on 

my  table I  entertained  the  inmates  of 

the  Workhouse  with  tea  thereafter. 

The  following  are  a  few  extracts  from  his  record 
of  the  past  year  on  this  day  : 

It  opened  with  great  anxiety  and  tender  commiseration 
for  the  poor  in  Ireland  when  pestilence  and  famine  was  in 
volving  the  population  in  unheard  of  misery  and  distress, 
it  being  estimated  that  this  awful  dispensation  had  carried 
off  two  millions  of  the  inhabitants.  As  Spring  advanced, 
supplies  of  foreign  grain  came  in  beyond  all  estimated  extent. 
As  Summer  advanced  prospects  of  great  plenty  caused  a 
reduction  (in  prices  for  grain)  ....  from  12s.  6d. 
to  6s.  6d.  (per  bushel).  Potatoes  from  6s.  to  33.  After  as 
fine  a  Summer  as  was  ever  known,  an  Autumn  very  unusually 
bountiful  in  the  quantity  and  quality  of  the  finest  grain  ever 
known  in  this  County  through  the  kindness  and  mercy  of 
divine  providence  succeeded ;  so  that  for  a.while,  peace  and 
plenty,  with  abundance  of  employment  for  the  labouring 


250  EDWARD  PEASE.  1847 

classes,  was  generally  experienced : — But  whilst  these  pros 
pects  were  yet  realising,  a  want  of  money  and  a  pressure  of 
difficulties  beyond  all  precedent  succeeded.  Penury  and 
want  of  monied  resources  was  most  severely  and  wastingly 
experienced.  The  Bank  of  England,  with  its  treasure  reduced 
from  sixteen  millions  to  five  or  six  millions,  was  not  able  to 
meet  the  national  and  commercial  embarrassment,  and  charg 
ing  discount,  for  some  time  eight  per  cent,  (at  this  time, 
3ist  December,  it  is  five  per  cent.) 

The  nation  has  been  preserved  in  internal  and  external 
peace,  notwithstanding  most  heavy  and  extensive  failures. 

After  a  review  of  his  family's  health  and  his  own 
physical  and  spiritual  state,  fie  goes  on,  "In  no 
preceding  year  have  I  passed  through  such  a  depth 
of  conflict  and  trial  as  during  the  past  owing  to  the 
extended  trading  and  mining  concerns  "  of  his  sons 
during  the  scarcity  of  money,  "  such  as  to  lead  me  to 
fear  from  day  to  day  that  they  might  have  to  stop 
payment."  He  describes  how  exquisitely  he  felt 
though  he  believed  in  the  soundness  and  solvency  of 
the  family  properties. 

At  this  present  the  prospects  of  the  family  are 
bright  and  prosperous  as  regards  colliery  matters,  the  monthly 
income  being  very  large  and  my  own  appears  as  if  it  might 
exceed  any  former  year,  yet  with  this  I  desire  to  be  very 
humble  and  thankful  not  having  my  heart  fixed  on  earthly 
possessions,  always  liable  to  change,  but  fixed  on  my  treasure 
in  Heaven  ...  a  treasure  that  will  never  fade  away. 


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CHAPTER  XII. 

1848. 

THE  chief  interest  in  these  diaries  has  been  the 
picture  of  the  writer's  mind  and  the  working 
of  his  soul  as  far  as  words  can  draw  it.  The  ups  and 
downs  of  his  spiritual  life  surprise  and  perplex  me. 
One  day  apparently  full  of  despair  and  condemnation, 
another  full  of  hope  and  confidence.  Once  in  January 
he  lies  "  awake  in  the  night  with  a  sense  of  the  un 
searchable,  illimitable,  indescribable  riches  of  Christ 
extended  to  me  beyond  all  description,  His  sovereign 
mercy,  His  keeping,  and  His  safe  direction  in  Time. 
His  encouraging  promises,  the  gift  of  faith  in  His  name, 
and  heavenly  inheritance  in  store.  .  .  .  Oh, 
adorable  unfathomable  goodness/'  And  Sunday  after 
Sunday  he  is  greatly  tried  with  heaviness,  or  in  no  way 
profited.  Then  in  theory  he  cares  little  about  outward 
concerns,  but  in  these  anxious  times  he  is  often  in 
anguish  and  anxiety  about  pecuniary  and  material 
things.  The  year  is  a  very  trying  one,  with  revolu 
tions  abroad,  Chartists  at  home,  failures  in  business, 
and  what  he  dislikes  extremely  an  inability,  through 
the  tight  place  his  sons  have  got  into,  to  devote  the 
greater  part  of  his  income  to  good  works.  He  is  as 
vigorous  and  healthy  as  ever. 

Sat.,  Jan.  15. — Left  home  this  morning  with  my  dear 
Grandson,  Jos.  W.  Pease,  and  was  favoured  to  reach  Bristol. 
.  .  .  .  I  felt  a  father's  love  met  by  all  the  affection  of 

251 


252  EDWARD  PEASE.  1848 

a  most  affectionate  daughter,  R.  F.  Nothing  of  moment 
occured  on  the  journey,  but  I  feel  it  would  have  been  better 
if  I  kept  more  inward  and  retired  in  spirit. 

Tues.,  Jan.  18. — My  dear  Grandson,  J.  W.  P.,  (now  19) 
left  me  for  Leyton  and  Walden,  thence  home.  My  prayer  is 
that  his  affectionate  mind  and  kind  disposition  may  be  sancti 
fied  by  Divine  Grace,  so  that  his  example  to  a  lovely  group 
of  brothers  and  sisters  .... 

On  the  20th  he  attends  a  young  men's  meeting  at 
Edward  Thomas's  with  S.  Capper,  Jos.  Eaton,  W. 
Tanner,  Thos.  Chalk,  etc.  Haswell  Home  on  the 
"Truth  and  Excellency  of  Christianity"  is  read  to 
them,  of  which  he  remarks  : — 

It  did  not  carry  the  subject  up  to  the  Gospel  standard, 
but  like  all  the  doings  of  the  Church  of  England,  leaves  the 
Christian  dispensation  shorn  of  its  glorious  attributes  of  peace 
on  earth,  the  freedom  of  Christ  unbought  and  not  to  be  paid 
for,  freely  given  blessings. 

Thurs.,  Feb.  3. — Received  the  truly  affecting  account  of 
the  death  of  Anna  [nee  Gurney]  the  wife  of  my  Cousin  Jno. 
C.  Backhouse,  on  board  a  ship  at  Palermo.  Very  sudden 
and  unexpected  was  her  decease,  not  saying  much  more  than 
'  This  is  a  strange  place  to  die,  but  I  am  comfortable  and 
going  to  Jesus  and  my  dear  Papa."  Fairer  human  prospects 
could  hardly  open  on  any  one  for  a  happy  settlement  in  life 
than  hers  was.* 

Thurs.,  Feb.  10. — Agreed  very  reluctantly  to  sit  for  my 
portrait,!  at  the  instance  of  my  dear  Son  Henry.  My  heart 
does  not  fully  approve  the  application  of  money  for  such  a 
purpose,  all  unworthy  as  I  am  to  be  kept  in  remembrance. 

*  Anna  Backhouse,  nee  Gurney,  died  suddenly  on  the  British  gunboat 
The  Bulldog  during  the  Sicillian  Revolution.  Her  husband,  John 
Church  Backhouse,  was  a  nephew  of  General  Sir  Richard  Church, 
"  the  Liberator  of  Greece."  I  have  given  an  outline  of  this  remarkable 
soldier's  career  in  a  note  in  Rachel  Gurney  of  the  Grove. 

f  This  is  the  portrait  reproduced  as  the  frontispiece  to  this  volume. 


Act.  81         REVOLUTIONARY  MOVEMENTS.  253 

From  Bristol  he  travels  to  Walden.  One  day  he  goes 
to  a  "considerable  party  at  cousin  G.  S.  Gibson's,"  and 
makes  the  pedantic  entry  "  some  innocent  and  amusing 
oriental  exercise  of  talent  was  called  into  action." 

Sat.,  Feb.  26. — Accounts  received  from  Paris  of  the  King 
of  France  having  abdicated  and  come  to  this  country,  that 
insurrection  had  risen  so  high  as  to  make  complete  revolution. 
A  republican  form  of  government  was  the  popular  cry.  That 
there  had  been  considerable  bloodshed  and  the  most  affecting 
results  from  the  strength  of  the  contending  parties. 

He  goes  on  to  Tottenham  early  in  March.  On  the 
way  there  he  remarks,  "  how  often  in  the  few  past  days 
have  I  been  in  danger  of  my  naturally  cheerful  spirits 
and  been  apt  to  be  carried  beyond  the  bounds  of  a 
pious  Christian  cheerfulness,"  and  while  there  he  is 
vexed  at  taking  such  an  interest  in  "  the  very  re 
markable  revolutionary  events  on  the  Continent, 
which  occupy  more  of  my  converse  and  observation 
than  I  am  entirely  satisfied  with,"  when  I  ought 
"  rather  to  keep  in  mind  my  pilgrimage  nearly  ended." 

Wed.,  Mar.  8. — Some  riots  in  London  and  Glasgow,  with 
the  publication  of  inflammatory  seditious  papers  in  Ireland, 
are  indications  of  unsettlement  from  the  revolution  in  France. 
Vain  is  that  great  strengthening  of  fleets  and  armies  if  it  is 
the  will  of  the  Omnipotence  that  this  Country  should  be  dealt 
with  as  the  Most  High  has  dealt  with  France,  and  my  appre 
hension  is,  if  revolution  take  place  here,  the  fall  of  power 
would  be  as  rapid  here  as  there. 

He  goes  on  to  the  Quarterly  Meeting  at  Coggeshall 
(Essex)  and 

Felt  it  consistent  with  my  peace  to  caution  Friends  to  be 
the  quiet  unmoved  spectators  of  that  shaking  there  was 
in  most  of  the  Continental  Governments,  and  not  to  be  so 
excited  by  the  revolution  in  France  as  to  take  part  in  any 


254  EDWARD  PEASE.  1848 

demonstrations  or  public  meetings,  but  as  followers  of  the 
Prince  of  Peace,  in  his  peace  to  live. 

He  reaches  home  on  the  i8th,  after  visiting  Bir 
mingham  and  bringing  with  him,  to  stay,  the  youngest* 
of  "  Cousin  Mary  Lloyd's  three  daughters."  He  is  very 
pleased  to  get  home. 

Yet  there  rushes  into  my  mind  the  remembrance  of  that 
precious  countenance,  that  mutually  heartfelt  glow  that  once 

so  welcomed  me — union  of  happiness  complete 

the  deep,  the  lasting  impression  of  what  the  beloved  had 
not  power  to  articulate,  cheers  me  on  my  way,  Cherish  my 
memory. 

Wed.,  Mar.  22. — Increasing  accounts  of  the  revolutionary 
proceedings  of  the  population  in  various  kingdoms  of  Europe. 
What  they  may  foreshadow  for  our  own  is  unknown,  but  my 
hope  and  earnest  desire  is  that  a  largely  increased  measure 
of  religious  liberty  may  be  the  effect  of  all  the  overturnings 
and  the  human  mind  set  morally  and  civilly  free — and  Kings 
and  Governors  taught  a  lesson  that  seeking  to  increase  the 
happiness  of  the  people  they  add  stability  and  peace  to  their 
Sway. 

He  sometimes  fears  that  a  "  dark  cloud  charged 
with  confusion  "  will  ere  long  "  burst  over  this  long 
highly  favoured  land."  He  declares  every  M.P.  must 
know  in  his  bosom  that  the  sense  of  justice  and  equality 
is  violated,  and  that  this  and  "  unnecessary  taxation 
for  the  purposes  of  army  and  navy  "  be  "  recompensed  " 
by  the  overthrow  of  these.  With  this  "  that  so-called 
Church  which  is  none  of  his  [i.e.  the  Lord's]  will  be 
rooted  up."  He  adds  "  the  day  will  come  and  sudden  it 
will  be." 


*  Mary  Lloyd,  Jun.,  who  married  Henry  Pease  (Edward  Pease's 
son,  then  M.P.  for  South  Durham)  in  1859,  and  now,  1907,  his  widow, 
living  at  Pierremont,  Darlington. 


Act.  81  DAVID  SANDS.  255 

Then  he  regrets  he  gave  so  much  time  and  thought 
to  these  things,  which  are  "  unsettling  every  Govern 
ment  in  Europe  except  this  highly  favoured  one," 
but  here  it  seems  "  to  hang  as  on  a  hair." 

There  are  dissatisfactions  among  the  lower  class  and  all 
we  hear  of  Ireland  is  calculated  to  spread  dismay  and  the  fear 
that  much  blood  will  be  shed. 

Tues.,  April,  4 —  .  :  ,  I  heard  the  newspaper  report 
of  my  poor  sadly  erring  nephew,  Henry  Whitwell,  having  been 
shot  accidently  at  Madrid,  'tis  affecting  to  the  close  of  life 
after  successive  years  of  violation  of  every  duty. 

Elsewhere  this  year  he  speaks  of  Henry  Whitwell 
as  "  the  youngest  and  most  favourite  son,"  "  a  most 
graceful  person  with  a  fine  attractive  countenance  .  .  . 
his  mental  talents  calculated  to  please  might  be  said 
to  be  the  counterpart  to  his  personal  endowments  " 
— and  of  his  wife  as  "  a  very  lovely  partner."* 

Fri.,  April  7. — Cold,  with  a  covering  of  snow.  At  one 
time  and  another  for  the  last  four  years,  my  attention  has 
turned  on  publishing  the  Life  of  D.  Sands  I  received  from 
his  daughter,  Cath.  Ring.  The  work  is  now  complete  through 
the  attention  of  Edward  Harris,  of  Newington,  copying  the 
whole  MS.,  and  George  Richardson,  of  Newcastle,  attending 
to  the  printing  of  2,500  copies,  all  sold  and  very  favorably 
received  by  Friends. 

David  Sands  was  an  American  and  a  great  friend  of 
Edward  Pease's  parents  (Joseph  and  Mary  Pease),  to 
whom,  in  old  eighteenth  century  letters  I  have  of  his, 
he  refers  as  the  persons  and  friends  particularly  near 
his  heart,  and  with  whom  he  loves  to  stay  more  than 
with  any  others. 

*  Mrs.  Henry  Whitwell  married  the  late  Sir  David  Dale,  Bart., 
then  Mr.  D.  Dale,  as  his  first  wife. 


256  EDWARD  PEASE.  1848 

Sat.,  April  8. — The  kingdom  is  at  present  in  great  alarm 
from  the  anticipated  meeting  of  500,000  Chartists  on  Kenning- 
ton  Common,  innumerable  troops  and  companies  of  Marines 
are  drawn  up  to  London  with  a  very  large  number  of 
cannon,  each  furnished  with  150  charges  of  ammunition.  In 
London,  Manchester,  etc.,  etc.,  tens  of  thousands  of  special 
constables  are  armed  with  a  short  staff.  All  continental 
kingdoms  have  effected  some  amelioration  of  the  laws  through 
a  spirit  of  turbulent  rebellion — a  spirit  that  has  much  sway  in 
this  land. 

He  finds  the  weather  unusually  cold  on  the  loth 
April.  "  The  ice  one-third  of  an  inch  thick,"  but 
"  sowing  is  going  on."  The  entries  this  spring  are  full 
of  his  distress  and  terror  of  his  sons  coming  to  grief  in 
the  general  bad  state  of  trade,  want  of  credit,  and  their 
heavy  losses  in  collieries  and  business. 

Wed.,  April  19. — A  general  satisfied  and  grateful  feeling 
may  be  said  to  exist  in  the  minds  of  the  people,  who  rejoice 
that  the  immense  multitude  of  Chartists  recently  assembled 
near  London,  were  so  peaceably  dispersed  by  the  prudent 
care  of  Government.  Hitherto  our  favor' d  little  Isle  is 
preserved  in  quiet,  while  all  European  nations  are  in  great 
unset tlement,  with  the  apparent  prospect  of  internal  warfare 
and  bloodshed  before  order  and  government  are  established. 

On  one  day  his  "  resolutions  are  weak,  not  well 
kept  to — some  reading  of  interesting  books,"  on  another 
he  finds  "  the  gooseberries  just  set  (24th  April)  and 
promise  a  full  crop,"  and  "  plum  blossom  very  abun 
dant." 

Things  outwardly  in  trade,  etc.,  not  prosperous;  how 
good  this  for  that  mind  which  knows  that  to  be  fixed  on 
mutable  things  is  greatly  unwise. 

Wed.,  April  26. — Something  of  a  longing  to  be  done  with 
time  fraught  as  it  is  with  so  much  that  makes  life  lovely, 


Aet.  81  QUAKER  MYSTICISM.  257 

and  which  I  may  so  often  enjoy,  but  having  one  of  the  best 
and  sweetest  companions  with  which  man  was  ever  blessed, 
now  with  the  God  and  Saviour  whom  she  loved  and  served, 
to  enter  into  similar  bliss 

Thurs.,  April  27. — It  was  very  pleasant  to  me  to  receive 
a  call  from  Jas.  Vickers,  who  brought  £35  ios.,  the  amount 
a  few  Friends  advanced  to  his  father  near  thirty  years  ago. 

Fri.,    April    28. — Vicissitudes are    more 

or  less  marked  in  every  mundane  pursuit  and  possession.  Led 
into  this  train  of  thinking  and  solid  meditation  from  seeing 
my  beloved  Sons  rather  tried  by  an  award  made  between  the 
S.  &  D.  Railway  and  the  owners  of  the  Black  Boy  (colliery), 
who  obtain  everything  they  contended  for,  contrary  to  all 
equity  as  is  believed :  trying  but  very  valuable  such  disappoint 
ments  are  to  that  mind,  etc.  ...  No  swallows  yet. 

Quakers  have  often  been  described  as  mystics, 
and  there  is  some  reason  for  it.  Occasionally  I  find 
entries  in  Edward  Pease's  diaries  that  support  this 
view,  and  he  was  described,  perhaps  not  accurately, 
after  his  death  as  "  the  most  consistent  Friend  in  the 
Society."  Here  is  one  on  May  ist,  "  There  was  un 
expectedly  given  me  such  a  sense  of  that  bliss  into 
which  the  spirits  of  those  most  near  and  dear  had 
entered,  and  with  them  the  spirits  of  many  more 
beloved  friends  who  in  mental  vision  passed  before  me 
with  something  of  a  glow  of  faith  that  with  this  rejoicing 
number  my  spirit  was  to  mingle/'  and  yet  four  days 
after 

While  all  looks  cheering  and  bright  in  the  outward  creation, 
all  is  chill,  dreary,  and  icy  within,  no  gleam  of  heavenly  love 
warms  my  poor  soul. 

Fri.,  May.  5. — Associations  are  now  forming  in  this  and 
other  places  with  what  appears  to  be  laudable  objects — to 
equalise  taxation,  to  lessen  all  wasting  expenditure,  to  prevent 


258  EDWARD  PEASE.  1848 

the  increase  of  the  Army Laudable  as  may  be 

the  intentions  and  efforts  of  these  Associations,  yet  I  have  fears 
of  my  dear  friends  taking  any  active  share  in  these  matters, 
any  degree  of  union  with  those  who  are  not  alive  to,  etc. 

He  delights  in  the  uncommonly  warm  spring  and 
seeing  "  this  beautiful  earth  clothed  with  the  softest 
verdure  and  blossom  of  the  richest  hue — more  abun 
dant  on  the  plum,  the  pear,  and  the  cherry  than  I 
remember  to  have  seen  it."  On  the  loth  May  he 
writes  : 

With  what  kindness  and  how  gently  my  heavenly  Father 
has  led  me  down  this  long  slope  of  life.  No  poor  health 
the  last  thirteen  years,  yet  the  gradual  monitions  are 
mercifully  given — a  feeling  of  diminished  powers  of  exertion 
is  in  almost  every  movement.  Walking,  once  my  enjoyment, 
very  soon  becomes  a  toil.  The  breathing  is  quickened  to 
some  degree  of  inconvenience.  .  .  My  gait  has  ceased  to  be 
active,  the  short  steps  and  slow  that  belong  to  old  age  are  now 
mine. 

Sat.,  May.  13. — Very  warm  day.  The  country  and  gardens 
clothed  with  uncommon  beauty.  Lilacs,  etc.,  in  full  flower, 
and  all  trees  except  the  ash  and  acacia  in  beautiful  Green. 

Tues.,  May.  16. — In  reading  the  life  of  worthy  T.  F.  Buxton 
I  am  struck  with  his  pious  persevering  character  and  the 
magnitude  of  his  mental  endowments  applied  to  lessen  the 
weight  of  woe  in  the  inhuman  slave  trade.  I  see  in  this 
instance  how  he  who  giveth  to  every  one  as  He  will,  has  given 
talents  and  capacity  far  beyond  my  low  but  most  thankfully 
and  unenvyingly  possessed  ones,  and  that  however  clearer 
my  Gospel  views  as  more  in  accord  with  the  letter  and  spirit 
of  the  Gospel  than  his,  yet  He  who  said  He  had  sheep  not 
of  that  fold,  was  the  true  Shepherd  of  this  good  and  useful 
man. 

He  tries  to  settle  many  affairs  before  starting  for 
London,  among  others  the  sale  "  of  my  west  side  of 
Northgate  tenements  "  to  "  my  nephew  J.  B.  Pease." 


Act.  81  ROBERT  FORSTER.  259 

He  also,  owing  to  the  depreciation  of  his  property, 
attempts  to  remodel  his  will  so  as  to  secure  that  "  each 
of  my  beloved  daughters  should  possess  a  clear  £1,000 
per  annum,  and  this  I  yet  hope  my  property  will  bear 
out,  and  leave  my  sons  rather  more  advantageously 
situated."  The  2ist  being  Sunday,  finds  him  at 
meeting  "  at  Hogstye  End,  otherwise  Woburn  Sands/' 
where  they  had  not  heard  a  minister  (John  was  with 
him)  for  upwards  of  eighteen  months/'  The  same  day 
he  goes  on  to  Leighton  Buzzard. 

On  the  3ist  May  he  enters  his  82nd  year. 

He  is  particularly  happy  visiting  his  "  Cousins 
R.  and  R.  Forster/'*  whose  quiet  dwelling  and  all  their 
proceedings,  their  piety,  simplicity  and  hospitality 
adorn  their  profession  and  honour  their  Creator," — 
all  of  which  is  much  to  his  mind,  after  wasting  a  day 
"  in  the  West  End  of  London,  the  Park  and  the  tawdry 
House  of  Lords."  After  the  Yearly  Meeting  he  goes 
to  Earlham  for  a  few  days  and  gets  home  the  I3th 
June — still  very  much  distressed  by  his  sons'  financial 
difficulties.  On  Tuesday,  20th  June,  "  Edmund  Back 
house  and  Wm.  Fothergill  presented  their  intentions 
of  marriage." 

Tues.,  July  4. — Left  home  for  Ackworth  General  Meeting, 
Son  Joseph,  daughter  Emma,  and  their  four  daughters.  I 
was  kindly  received  by  Cousin t  Thos.  Pumphrey  and  lodged  in 
the  Institution.  .  .  .  Over  abounding  attention  and  ex 
pressions  of  regard  of  which  I  am  utterly  unworthy  greet  my 
ear,  driving  me  to  a  humbling  sense  of  my  own  imperfections  ; 
may  be  useful  and  befriend  right  contemplation. 

*  Robert  Forster,  born  1772,  died  1873  ;  he  married  Rachel, 
daughter  of  John  and  Sarah  Wilson,  of  Kendal  ;  she  died  a  few  months 
after  her  husband.  Four  of  the  Tottenham  Forsters  died  in  1873 — 
Mary,  aet.  eighty-seven,  Rachel  aet.  ninety,  Robert  aet.  eighty-one, 
Anne  aet.  seventy-six.  Josiah,  a  brother  of  Robert's,  died  in  1870,  aet. 
eighty-eight  :  all  of  these  old  Friends  I  remember. 

f  "Cousin"  because  "related"  to  Edward  Pease's  mother  by  his 
marriage  with  Emma  Richardson. 


26o  EDWARD  PEASE.  1848 

The  following  days  are  spent  at  Ackworth,  and  on 
the  yth  April  he  writes  "  Went  up  to  the  Flounders 
Institute,  much  pleased  with  the  building  and  accom 
modation,  'tis  expected  to  receive  pupils  next  month. 
I  ever  shall  retain  an  especial  interest  about  this  estab 
lishment,  which  had  its  unexpected  foundation  from 
an  apparently  unexpected  result,  viz.,  my  call  of  con 
dolence  to  B.  Flounders  on  the  death  of  his  daughter." 

Mon.t  July  17. — Busy  with  my  hay,  completed  and  well 
got,  and  intervals  spent  over  newspapers,  to  which 
there  is  a  peculiar  temptation  to  read  from  the  unsettled 
state  of  Continental  Europe. 

Tues.,  July  18. — Yesterday,  accompanied  by  Cousin  W. 
Backhouse,  with  Joseph  Sams,  who  acknowledged  that  while 
in  Egypt  he  had  bought  and  kept  a  female  slave:  In  vain 
did  we  endeavour  to  set  before  him  the  atrocity  of  such 
conduct,  which  he  strenuously  defended 

Tues.,  July  25. — Had  an  excursion  to  Staithes  and 
Kettleness  and  were  sixteen  in  company.  The  day  was 
fine  and  the  innocent  enjoyment  of  the  juveniles  I  hope 
allowable,  but  desiring  as  I  do  to  bear  about  a  remembrance 
of  the  dying  of  Jesus  for  me  ....  I  fear  the  solidity 
of  my  conduct  did  not  evince  it  as  it  ever  should  do.  Oh, 
may  my  watchfulness  encrease  : 

Wed.,  Aug.  2. — Considerable  preparations  for  a  Flower  Show 
in  which  some  of  my  dear  descendants  take  much  interest 
and  pleasure,  not  so  my  heart.  The  simplicity  of  Quakerism, 
that  which  the  spirit  of  the  blessed  Jesus  would  lead  his  cross- 
bearing  followers  into  is  not  in  it ;  either  in  the  display  or  as 
to  the  whole  matter  except  in  useful  cottage  cultivation, 
all  the  rest  tending  to  the  increase  of  luxury  and  tending  to 
gratify  the  lust  of  the  eye.  To  many  of  my  beloved  family 
and  friends  a  day  will  come  in  which  I  apprehend  they  will 
see  these  occupations  have  not  smoothd  the  way  to  heaven . 
My  charity  is  to  all. 


r.KORC.K    STEPHENSON. 


Aet.  81     FUNERAL  OF  GEORGE  STEPHENSON.       261 

Wed.,  Aug.  16. — Left  home  in  company  with  John  Dixon 
to  attend  the  interment  of  George  Stephenson  at  Chesterfield, 
and  arrived  there  in  the  evening.  When  I  reflect  on  my 
first  acquaintance  with  him  and  the  resulting  consequences 
my  mind  seems  almost  lost  in  doubt  as  to  the  beneficial  results 
— that  humanity  has  been  benefited  in  the  diminished  use 
of  horses  and  by  the  lessened  cruelty  to  them,  that  much  ease, 
safety,  speed,  and  lessened  expense  in  travelling  is  obtained, 
but  as  to  the  results  and  effects  of  all  that  Railways  have  led 
my  dear  family  into,  being  in  any  sense  beneficial  is  uncertain. 

Thurs.,  Aug.  17. — Went  in  the  forenoon  to  Tapton  House, 
late  G.  Stephenson's  residence,  and  received  from  Robert  a 
welcome  reception  ;  had  a  serious  friendly  conference  with 
him,  under  a  feeling  expressed  to  him  of  my  belief  that  it  was 
a  kindness  to  him  his  father  was  taken,  his  habits  were 
approaching  to  inebriety  ;  his  end  was  one  that  one  seemed 
painfully  to  feel  no  ground,  almost,  for  hope.  I  fear  he  died 
an  unbeliever — the  attendance  of  his  funeral  appeared  to  me 
to  be  a  right  step  due  to  my  association  with  him  and  his  son. 
I  do  not  feel  condemned  in  doing  so,  yet  gloomy  and  uncon- 
solatory  was  the  day.  In  the  church  I  sat  a  spectacle  with  my 
hat  on,  and  not  comforted  by  the  funeral  service. 

By  reading  between  the  lines  in  the  published 
life  of  Stephenson,  one  may  find  a  little  corroboration, 
chiefly  of  a  negative  character,  as  regards  this  mention 
of  his  irreligion  and  approach  to  intemperance  towards 
the  end  of  his  day.  To  us,  such  references  may 
seem  to  get  near  the  judging  of  others,  and  better 
left  alone,  yet  the  record  is  an  illustration  of  the 
attitude  of  a  correct  Friend  with  the  warmest  of 
hearts.  George  Stephenson  bore  some  of  the  fruits 
of  the  Spirit  at  least,  in  his  simplicity,  honesty, 
patience,  industry,  generosity  and  love  of  his  fellow- 
men,  and  who  shall  say  that  he  did  not  work  that 
righteousness  that  is  accepted  of  God. 

Sat.,  Aug.  26. — Looking  round  my  pecuniary  possessions 
I  see  everything  except  the  Forth  Street  concern  sinking 


262  EDWARD  PEASE.  1848 

and  wearing  an  air  of  deep  gloom,  shrouding  the  mind  with  a 
multitude  of  fears,  so  that  contemplating  a  reduction  of 
property  only  creates  anxiety  that  there  may  be  enough  to 
fulfil  all  claims  on  me  and  my  family,  honourably  as  to  the 
truth.  .  . 

Tues.,  Aug.  29 —  .  .  .  Silvanus  Fox  came  in  the  after 
noon.  ...  In  the  exercise  of  his  gift  there  is  a  frequent 
brightness,  and  it  appears  to  have  aright  evidence,  yet  its 
power  did  not  perhaps  from  the  redundancy  of  words  deepen 
or  much  edify  my  spirit. 

Thurs.,  Sept.  7. — At  Winyard,  went  with  dear  Joseph  and 
his  three  daughters.  Our  object  was  to  induce  the  Marquis  to 
enter  into  some  regulations  to  avert  the  ruinous  consequences 
of  the  coal  trade.  I  felt  it  was  late  in  my  life  to  intermeddle 
in  such  matters,  the  general  state  of  the  Suffering  mining 
interest  and  the  interest  of  my  family  demanded  the  effort. 
Our  reception  was  good,  but  the  effort  not  crownd  with  success 
I  fear. 

Here  is  a  curiously  expressed  criticism  of  a  woman 
Friend's  preaching  :  — 

S.  H.  stood  very  long — a  more  condensed  delivery  of  the 
exercise  of  her  mind  would  conduce  to  the  weight  of  that  in 
fluence  which  it  is  desirable  her  gift  should  yield. 

Mow.,  Oct.  9. — Attended  my  Cousin  Edmund's  bride's 
visit  agreeably,  about  thirty  present.  There  is  in  this  union 
much  to  love  and  admire.  My  heart  longs  for  their  submission 
to  the  humbling  power  of  truth.  While  I  fear  there  is  not  in 
my  living  and  in  that  in  which  I  indulge,  that  true  simplicity 
which  comports  with  the  pure  example  of  Jesus,  I  see  and 
lament  that  my  dear  young  friends,  as  on  this  occasion, 
depart  wider  and  wider  from  simplicity ;  the  variety  of 
indulgent  viands  and  the  display  after  tea  was  beyond  what 
truth  would  permit  me  to  suffer  on  such  an  occasion. 

Fri.,  Oct.  27. — Cousins  Thos.  Richardson  and  Thos.  Pease, 
of  Leeds,  with  me.  His  (i.e.  T.  Pease's)  piety  and  humility 


Act.  81  A  BUSY  RECORD.  263 

exemplary ;  his  perceptions  of  Gospel  truth  are  not  such  as 
to  set  him  free  from  some  faith  in  some  elementary  observance, 
and  his  association  with  what  are  termed  evangelical  characters 
is  not  unlikely  to  carry  him  into  their  land  of  bondage  and 
obscuration  of  the  inshining  of  the  Son  of  Righteousness.  Oh, 
my  soul,  endeavor  to  abide  in  the  light  without  judging. 


Early  in  November  we  find  him  staying  at  Malton, 
and  very  much  touched  by  the  welcome  given  him 
by  his  hostesses,  Ann  and  Esther  Priestman,  but  alas, 
he  has  to  take  himself  to  task  here  for  the  "  affecting 
heaviness  "  which  "  assailed  "  him  in  meeting.  On 
the  3rd,  as  ever,  he  remembers  the  anniversary  of 
the  most  happy  and  the  most  blessed  of  unions,  "  now 
fifty-four  years  ago  "  :  "  to  her  I  owe,  with  the  blessing 
attendant  on  her  sweet  life  ...  all  the  happi 
ness  I  possess."  "  Her  constant  anxiety  was  alike 
directed  to  lessen  my  business  pursuits,  and  to  turn 
my  attention  to  the  first  great  duty  of  life,  to  serve 
my  Creator/'  On  the  8th  he  notes  that  "  J.  W.  P.'1 
has  gone  to  London,  and  adds  as  regards  his  "  precious 
grandson  "  that  his  "  stability  is  a  great  comfort  " 
to  him.  He  notes  the  prevalence  of  cholera.  On  the 
I3th  he  is  engaged  in  "  winding  up  a  long  and  very 
troublesome  Trust  of  twenty  to  thirty  years'  standing," 
and  says  that  out  of  twenty  executorships  only  three 
remain,  viz.,  H.  Richardson's,  H.  Masterman's  and 
J.  Stephenson's,  and  he  thanks  God  he  has  been  enabled 
to  honourably  and  faithfully  discharge  his  duties. 
On  the  ist  of  December  he  visits  four  poor  widows 
in  the  Almshouses  (founded  by  his  mother,  Mary 
Pease),  and  finds  them  comfortable,  and  adds  : — 


A  little  help  handed :  may  I  be  more  alive  to  the  wants  of 
the  poor,  perhaps  not  constantly  enough  the  objects  of  settled 
or  casual  relief. 


264  EDWARD  PEASE.  1849 

He  spends  an  evening  to  meet  Elizabeth  P.  Gurney, 
and  remarks  that  the  company  was  a  striking  "  tablet 
of  sorrow  and  change  "  : 

All  widowers  and  widows,  viz.,  John  C.  Backhouse,  myself, 
H.  C.  Backhouse,  Katherine  Backhouse,  E.  Barclay  (Mrs.  R. 
Barclay),  Eliza  P.  Gurney  and  her  sister  Juliet  Clark. 

Mon.,  Dec.  25. — Christmas  Day  not  in  any  way  kept  by 
me — quietly  within  doors  writing  letters — quiet  mind,  I  might 
say  almost  unhappily  so,  not  having  anxiety  enough  about 
my  Lord.  .  . 

Wed.,  Dec.  27. —  .  .  .  The  accounts  of  worthy  Henry 
Birkbeck  are  of  a  most  discouraging  character.  Great  is  the 
doubt  of  his  now  being  alive  ;  a  blow  on  the  skull  by  the 
fall  of  his  horse  appears  to  make  an  irreparable  injury,  though 
surgical  skill  has  recently  been  exercised. 

Thurs.,  Dec.  28. —  .  .  .  Pecuniarily  I  have  cause  to 
admire  how  an  effort  to  serve  a  worthy  youth,  Robert,  the 
son  of  George  Stephenson,  by  a  loan  of  £500,  at  first  without 
expectation  of  much  remuneration,  has  turned  to  my  great 
advantage.  During  the  course  of  the  year  I  have  received 
£7,000  from  the  concern  at  Forth  Street. 

On  the  29th  December  he  notes  that  Joseph 
and  his  daughter  Jane  have  gone  to  "  the  interment 
of  his  (Joseph's)  brother  H.  Birkbeck's  remains. 

May  the  mourners  receive  consolation  and  instruction 
from  the  death  of  this  upright  character  ;  there  is  to  all  a  teach 
ing  lesson  in  such  solemn  events,  but  yet  more  strikingly  so  to 
the  rich.  .  .  The  man  of  extended  and  prosperous  concerns 
may  be  taken  away  in  the  midst  of  them.  What  avails 
prosperity  if  it  has  not  been  held  in  godly  fear. 

At  the  end  of  this  year's  journal  is  a  long  account 
of  the  Whitwell  family,  which  I  may  use  if  I  deal 
with  his  wife's  family  in  another  volume. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

1849. 

THIS  year,  Edward  Pease  is,  if  anything,  more 
active  than  ever,  especially  in  his  attention  to 
what  he  conceives  his  duty  to  his  "  little  Church." 
He  visits  all  the  meetings  in  Essex,  goes  to  Bristol 
and  London  and  Manchester,  and  calls  on  some 
hundreds  of  Friends'  families.  His  journal  becomes 
more  and  more  a  religious  record,  and  the  writing, 
still  clear  and  fine,  at  last  betrays  at  times 
the  signs  of  age.  He  has  rheumatism  in  his  knees, 
so  that  his  walking  is  curtailed;  otherwise  he  is  hale 
and  hearty,  and  a  wonder  to  himself  and  friends. 
He  begins  the  diary  with  a  desire  that  this  eighty- 
second  year  of  his  life  may  be  more  spent  in  being 
useful  to  his  fellow-men,  ''more  faithfully  filling  up 
my  duty  to  my  God,  and  then  it  will  be  to  all."  On 
the  nth  January  he  goes  to  Bristol.  There  is  not 
much  that  is  worth  transcribing  of  the  entries  made 
whilst  with  his  daughter  and  son-in-law  ;  the  follow 
ing,  however,  is  rather  a  good  example  of  Quaker 
caution  in  description. 

Varied  are  the  characters  we  meet  with,  and  in  some  cases 
where  mental  limited  powers  are  met  with,  it  is  striking  how  the 
few  talents  may  work  in  the  right  direction.  A  Friend  here  of 
the  description  I  have  hinted  at  has  distributed  to  nearly  all 
the  clergy  in  England  a  copy  of  Dymond's  Essay  on  Peace, 
and  last  year  3,500  copies  of  the  Yearly  Meeting  Epistle  of 

265 


266  EDWARD  PEASE.  1849 

1848.     He  has  now  in  the  press  1,000  of  dear  John's  "  Questions 
for  the  Times,"  published  in  1842,  and  400  copies,  etc.,  etc. 

He  calls  on  many  Friends,  thinking  it  "  desirable 
friendship  should  be  kept  alive  by  countenance  shar 
pening  countenance."  He  frets  over  the  distress 
in  Ireland.  Here  is  a  sample  of  his  calls  : — 

Tues.,  Feb.  6 — Made  some  calls  in  which  I  en 
deavoured  to  be  as  a  tender  pastor  to  a  tried  female  elder 
and  her  son  and  daughter,  two  tender  spirited  young  people, 
endeavouring  to  press  on  them  in  their  trials  from  a  wayward 
parent  to  possess  their  minds  in  quietness  and  in  confidence 
that  as  they  abode  near  the  spirit  of  Christ  he  would  be  to 
them  a  Good  Shepherd. 

On  the  I5th  February,  at  the  close  of  his  visit  to 
Bristol,  he  says  he  has  made  "  calls  exceeding  thirty 
in  this  city." 

He  proceeds  to  Tottenham  to  attend  the  funeral 
of  his  Cousin  R.  Stacey  on  the  i6th,  of  whom  he  says, 
"  She  was  of  most  affectionate,  pious  dispositions  ; 
her  agonizing  sufferings  "  for  years  were  "  endured 
with  resigned  patience  and  peace,  and  her  hope  was 
full  of  immortality." 

Wed.,  Feb.  21. —  .  .  .  It  is  with  some  fear  that  I 
venture  to  record  a  remarkable  visitation  of  heavenly  love 
during  the  night  season,  in  which  my  heart  in  a  language  I  am 
unable  fully  to  describe  did  magnify  and  praise  Him  Who  sitteth 
on  the  throne  .  .  .  and  I  felt  as  it  were  the  joy  of  leaving 
this  earth  to  enter  into  that  bliss,  that  induced  me  to  long  to 
depart.  Oh  that  the  God  of  my  life  at  the  last  hour  may 
renew  this  blessed  sense  of  his  Love. 

His  son  John's  having  felt  "  his  long  imprisoned 
spirit  free  to  visit  the  meetings  in  Essex,"  he  decides 
to  go  with  him.  An  arduous  undertaking  is  this. 
They  start  with  Chelmsford,  "  a  large  meeting  of  200 


Aet.  82  TRAVELS  IN  ESSEX.  267 

Friends,"  on  the  25th  February,  where  it  was  "  a 
trying  and  laborious  day,"  and  "  as  regards  hunting 
and  shooting,  it  appeared  that  many  cases  of  both 
existed."  Then  to  Maldon,  Witham,  and  again  to 
Chelmsford  and  Maldon,  to  the  latter  for  a  public 
meeting,  which  was  large,  and  where  John 

was  enabled  to  preach  the  Gospel  in  much  authority,  and  briefly 
but  clearly  to  trace  to  their  spiritual  origin  the  various 
testimonies  of  Friends.  A  clergyman  of  the  Establishment  said 
he  was  not  only  satisfied  but  edified.  ... 

Then  to  Layer  Britten,  a  small  meeting,  "  seven 
or  eight  men,  as  many  females,"  The  3rd  of  March 
they  are  at  "  R. andD.  Alexander's,"  at  Ipswich;  "his 
wife  Ann,  a  very  intelligent,  interesting  woman, 
much  of  an  invalid,  not  having  been  at  meeting  for 
about  twenty  years." 

Came  to  attend  the  interment  of  an  aged  and  valued  disciple, 
a  friend  dear  to  me,  Dykes  Alexander.  Saw  the  remains 
with  some  solemn  thoughts  about  my  latter  end. 

Then  to  Kelvedon  and  Coggeshall,  Earls  Come. 
"  Spent  an  evening  of  deep  interest  with  Wm.  Mathews." 
At  Colchester  he  is  depressed,  and  begins  to  fear  lest 
"  our  Society  "  should  "  wear  out,  as  I  fear  it  will 
with  the  next  generation."  Then  to  Halstead,  where 
John  seems  to  have  pointed  out  the  middle  road  or  a 
"  clear  pathway  between  the  works  of  benevolence, 
and  that  regulated  quietude  in  which  the  Spirit  of 
truth  is  the  teacher  and  leader."  Then  to  Stebbing 
and  Felstead  meeting,  Walden,  Coggeshall  (Quarterly 
Meeting),  Dunmow  (small,  six  men  and  six  women), 
Bardfield.  Here  he  was  "  entertained  by  my  long 
known  and  valued  friend,  Joseph  Smith,  in  his  eighty- 
sixth  year,  a  pious  good  man,  valuable  in  his  neigh 
bourhood,  abounding  in  dispositions  to  do  good," 


268  EDWARD  PEASE.  1849 

but   in    delivering  his    sentiments,    "abounds"    also 
"in  a  confusion  of  words  and  ideas." 

On  the  igth  March  the  labour  in  Essex  is  concluded. 
While  away  from  home,  he  hears  that  his  cousin,  H.  C. 
Backhouse,  had  a  concern  to  go  to  Van  Dieman's 
Land  and  South  Australia,  with  which,  however, 
the  Monthly  Meeting  very  properly  "  in  the  wisdom 
of  truth  "  "  could  not  unite,"  and  she  gives  evidence 
of  "  the  good  fruit  of  the  Spirit  "  in  "  sweetness  of 
feeling"  and  "acquiesence." 

We  next  find  him  in  London  : — 

Wed.,  March  28. — After  many  thoughts  and  feelings  how 
far  it  was  right  for  me  to  spend  two  or  three  hours  at  the 
British  Museum,  I  concluded  to  go.  The  wonderful  display 
.  .  .  awakened  a  reverential  feeling  of  the  greatness  and 
goodness  of  God 

He  is  particularly  pleased  with  the  antiquities  of 
Egypt  and  the  "proofs  of  what  befell  the  Israelites." 
At  last,  on  the  soth,  he  gets  home  again. 

Fri.,  April  6. — Called  Good  Friday.  Shops  more  closed 
than  usual  by  Friends  and  others,  the  law  having  fixed  this 
day  and  Christmas  Day  shall  be  considered  holy  days,  without 
any  reference  to  their  popish  foundation  as  saint  days.  When 
will  the  day  come  when  exterior  observances,  ordinances 
and  administrations  shall  cease  and  give  way  to  the  sublime 
reality  that  what  belongs  to  God  and  what  He  requires  of 
man  is  the  homage  of  a  humble  contrite  heart,  and  that  His 
invisible  availing  worship  is  in  spirit  and  in  truth. 

Mow.,  April  9. — Easter  Monday,  so  called.  A  very 
large  cattle  fair.  .  .  . 

Mow.,  April  16. — Went  to  see  the  levelling  and  completion 
of  the  new  burying  ground  and  fix  about  planting  trees. 
Contemplated  the  resting  place  of  my  entirely  beloved 


Act.  82  BARCLAY'S  "APOLOGY."  269 

with  some  satisfaction  as  I  saw  that  the  removal  of  the  wall 
would  admit  of  my  last  resting  place  being  close  by  her 
side 

He  visits  Sunderland,  Shields  and  Newcastle  Friends 
and  meetings.  About  this  time  he  is  very  much 
worried  and  pained  by  a  publication  by  Dr.  Ash, 
"  Reasons  for  objecting  to  the  republication  and 
circulation  of  Barclay's  Apology,"  which  promotes 
scrutinising  and  speculation  much  more  than  devotion. 
Later  : — 

I  co'ntinue  troubled  with  Dr.  Ash's  remarks  respecting 
"  Barclay's  Apology."  Some  of  them  are  founded  on  truth  and 
right  views,  but  a  tendency  to  lessen  the  comforting  strength  of 
the  expressions  of  our  Lord  is  apparent  and  as  I  believe  it 
is  safer  to  believe  ,  what  if  I  say,  in  their  overfulness,  than  not 
admit  His  words  in  the  utmost  fulness,  so  I  lament  the 
weakening  tendency  of  the  book. 

He  goes  to  the  Yearly  Meeting.     Isaac  Sharp 

has  a  concern  to  address  the  Queen.  Hopes  of  access  to  the 
royal  ear  were  entertained  by  application  to  Prince  Albert. 
May  the  way  open  for  gospel  truth  in  the  pure  love  of  it  being 
proclaimed  to  our  valuable  Queen. 

W.  Forster  has  a  desire 

to  have  an  opportunity  with  the  comedians  at  the  different 
theatres,  and  this  evening  he  was  about  to  enter  on  this  trying 
service  to  him  and  the  dear  friend  accompanying  him,  Peter 
Bedford. 

He  goes  home  via  Bristol,  and  reaches  Darlington, 
Saturday,  i6th  June,  and  this  day  notes, 

Strife,  commotion  and  bloodshed  have  their  highway  very 
remarkably  in  those  countries  where  the  Roman  Catholic 
Religion  has  its  sway ;  it  seems  as  if  ancient  Rome  would  be 


270  EDWARD  PEASE.  1849 

bombarded  into  ruins  by  the  French.     Italy,  Austria,  Spain 
and  Ireland  are  in  suffering  or  war. 

Fri.,  June  22. — Very  anxious  and  thoughtful  about  to 
morrow  as  a  day  to  be  kept  as  my  Grandson,  J.  Whitwell 
Pease's  birthday,  everything  that  has  in  it  a  celebration 
inconsistent  with  Christian  gravity  and  simplicity  stands  in 
my  mind  as  condemned,  and  as  unbecoming  our  profession  of 
the  truth,  and  is  a  trespass  against  it.  May  all  my  endeavours 
be  to  have  the  day  spent  becomingly.  .  . 

Sat.,  June  23. — Early  aroused  by  the  loud  firing  of  Guns 
and  the  din  of  music  intended  as  the  celebration  of  my  Grand 
son's  birthday.  Grieved  and  almost  sick  at  heart  with  many 
doings  at  utter  variance  with  the  advice  to  be  "  examples  of 
moderation  in  all  things."  Should  it  be  in  the  permission  of 
divine  wisdom  that  some  disappointment  or  some  circumstance 
of  family  trial  or  distress  should  soon  follow  all  this  bustle  and 
celebration,  how  little  of  comfort  could  the  spirit  fall  back 
upon.  .  .  Evening — the  day  passed  with  more  comfort 
and  quiet  than  I  dared  to  hope.  Innocently  amusing  to  the 
young. 

Mon.,  June  25. — I  leave  home  with  some  anxious  desire 
that  the  assemblage  of  near  2,000  men  at  Adelaide's  coal 
pit  in  order  to  have  a  cold  meal  and  dinner  in  consequence  of 
my  grandson  coming  of  age,  may  be  conducted  in  much  good 
order  and  peace.  .  . 

Tues.,  June  26. — I  was  glad  to  learn  that  the  dinner  given 
at  Adelaide  colliery  to  about  1,700  colliers  was  peaceably 
conducted.  .  . 

Wed.,  June  27.—  .  .  .  To-day  I  have  some  cause 
to  lament.  ...  I  feel  something  of  an  inward  scatter 
ing  from  reading  some  voyages  and  travels,  in  themselves  not 
wrong,  but  not  so  befitting  as  the  accounts  of  those  voyagers 
and  travellers  who  recite  their  way  to  the  everlasting 
inheritance. 


Act.  82  BIRTHDAY  CELEBRATIONS.  271 

Thurs.,  June  28. — Dear  J.  W.  P's  birthday  celebrations 
thus  end  ;  about  150  of  the  family  servants  have  been  regaled 
much  to  their  enjoyment  with  tea  at  Southend,  and  about 
300  of  the  girls  and  young  women  from  the  mills  at  the  Central 
Hall  with  tea.  The  whole  is  more  of  mourning  than  joy  to 
my  spirit.  I  can  rejoice  in  the  happiness  and  enjoyment  and 
comfort  of  my  townspeople,  but  the  celebration  so  large  and 
so  public  of  anything  pertaining  to  my  family  pains  me, 
being  beyond  the  simplicity  of  Gospel  limits  according  to  my 
feelings. 

Thurs.,  July  5. — Permitted  some  sweet  feeling  of  approach 
to  the  mercy  seat  and  there  asked  for  an  increase  of  dedication 
and  spiritual  strength,  that  stripped  of  all  my  wayward 
straying  and  wicked  disposition  of  pride,  confidence,  self- 
esteem,  self  importance,  I  might  be  entirely  as  a  little  child  in 
all  things.  .  .  . 

Fri.,  July  6. —  ...  At  home  in  this  favored  land  we 
have  tranquility  and  advances  in  political  care  for  health, 
schools,  etc.,  are  advancing;  the  Church  of  England,  so  called, 
is  increasing  the  firmness  of  its  insatiable  greedy  grasp  in  order 
some  day,  for  the  day  must  come,  when  it  shall  have  a 
complete  headlong  fatal  fall.  May  the  sure  foundation  suc 
ceed  its  fall,  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord. 

He  desires  that  the  pain  of  his  rheumatism  "  may 
continue  as  something  of  a  warning,  like  the  creaking 
of  the  timbers  in  an  old  far  worn  ship."  He  notes 
the  many  improvements  in  his  "  dear  native  place  " 
"  with  pleasure/'  "  the  laying  of  water  pipes  between 
Bondgate  and  Cockerton  to  bring  water  from  the 
Tees,"  etc.  Also  that  they  are  "  destroying  the 
appearance  "  of  the  town  bridge  by  reducing  the  height 
of  the  central  arch,  but  it  is,  he  adds,  a  "  real  accom 
modation." 

On  the  i8th  July  he  walks 

into    our     recently     purchased     new      burying      ground, 
and  marked  the  spot  by  her  side  where  I  planted  three  box 


272  EDWARD  PEASE.  1849 

trees,  as  the  spot  where  I  wish  this  poor  frame  to  rest,  and  then 
may  my  spirit  be  with  hers. 

Among  Joseph's  many  cares  he  adds  there  is  the 
"  application  for  their  daughter  R.  (aged  eighteen) 
in  marriage."  His  reading  includes  the  "  life  and 
letters  of  Wm.  Ellis,  a  valiant  in  his  day,"  and  he 
finds  it  more  satisfying  than  "  the  reading  of  desultory 
books  and  newspapers." 
On  the  25th  July  : 

Called  on  my  sinking  cousin,  Thomas  Pease  ;  felt  how  needful 
it  was  to  endeavor  while  in  health  so  to  live  that  with  a  pre 
pared  and  resigned  mind  the  spirit  .  .  might  not  have  that 
to  do  when  bedimmed  by  disease  or  pain,  which  in  health 
ought  to  have  been  perfected. 

He  records  his  death  on  the  i8th  September. 

He  is  interested  in  his  grandson,  Jos.  W.  Pease's, 
and  Henry  Barclay's  tour  in  "  poor  Ireland,"  makes 
many  references  to  the  prevalence  of  cholera,  especially 
at  Middlesbrough,  where  a  Friend  who  is  at  meeting 
in  the  morning,  dies  of  the  epidemic  the  same  night. 

Sat.,  Aug.  4. — Paid  £5  155.  for  a  map  of  the  premises 
belonging  to  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  a  plan  distinguishing 
every  Grave  opened  during  the  last  fifty  years  with  the  names  of 
nearly  everybody  therein  interred  and  that  spot  next  to  the 
resting  ashes  of  her,  who,  when  living,  was  the  nearest  to  all 
earthly  perfection,  where  my  remains  are  to  be  deposited  dis 
tinctly  marked.  .  .  . 

On  the  I4th  August  he  parts  "  affectionately  and 
tenderly  with  my  beloved,  very  amiable,  talented 
grandson,  Edward,*  going  to  Grove  House  School. 

*  This  grandson,  born  1834,  died  1880,  after  leaving  school,  went 
into  the  spinning  and  weaving  mills,  the  oldest  branch  of  the  family 
businesses.  He  married  Miss  Sarah  Sturge,  who  died  in  1877.  His 
health  led  him  to  abandon  his  business  pursuits,  and  his  share 
of  responsibility  fell,  as  usual,  on  to  the  shoulders  of  his  eldest  brother 
to  whom  he  was  deeply  attached. 


Aet.  82       EDWARD  PEASE  THE  YOUNGER.  273 

May  the  Lord  preserve  him,  keep  him,  and  preserve 
him,  and  dedicate  him  to  those  purposes  on  earth  in 
which  he  shall  glorify  his  Lord. 

This  grandson,  Edward  Pease,  in  spite  of  ill  health, 
devoted  much  time  and  labour  to  philanthropic  work, 
was  a  strong  advocate  of  total  abstinence,  and  a  deeply 
religious  man.  He  was  liberal  and  broad  in  his  views, 
charitable  in  his  judgments,  and  had  the  kindest  of 
hearts.  He  travelled  and  resided  a  great  deal  on  the 
Continent  with  his  wife  and  only  daughter,  and  wher 
ever  he  went,  sought  every  opportunity  of  practical 
service.  He  bought  an  estate  at  Bewdley,  in  Worcester 
shire,  in  which  he  took  a  great  interest,  and  gave  much 
time  and  money  to  horse  breeding  and  mule  breeding, 
importing  the  best  French  and  Spanish  donkey  sires 
and  using  Thoroughbred,  Arab,  Hackney  and  Cleveland 
sires  and  mares  in  his  desire  to  prove  to  British 
agriculturists  the  great  possibilities  and  economic 
value  of  mules  of  different  types.  He  built  a  house  at 
Braemar,  "  Kindrochit,"  and  spent  a  part  of  each  year 
in  fishing  and  walking  in  the  Highlands.  Among 
the  objects  provided  for  under  his  will  was  a  free  library 
at  Darlington.  He  left  an  orphan  daughter,  Mary 
Beatrice  Pease,  now  Countess  of  Portsmouth. 

In  September  we  find  him  at  Liverpool  and  Man 
chester  with  his  daughter-in-law,  Sophia  Pease,  who 
has  a  "  concern  "  to  visit  Friends'  families.  This 
"  arduous  service  "  is  really  remarkable  ;  day  after 
day  is  spent  in  the  discharge  of  this  duty.  Ten  or 
twelve  visits  a  day  for  some  sixteen  or  seventeen 
days  besides  attending  meetings,  of  one  of  which  he 
says  : 

My  feelings  much  spoiled  by  J.  Jones  saying  it  was  time 
to  separate  when  we  had  been  about  one  hour  twenty  minutes 
assembled,  and  when  I  think  religious  exercise  was  rising. 

20 


274  EDWARD  PEASE.  1849 

In  October  he  takes  more  notice  of  temporal  things, 
such  as  "  the  restlessness  among  various  classes, 
colliers,  etc.,  for  advance  of  wages,  now  high,  and 
bread  uncommon  cheap,"  that  the  Forth  Street  concern 
is  doing  nothing,  after  great  prosperity,  and  so  on. 

Fri.,  Oct.  12. —  .  .  .  My  cousin,  Thomas  Pease,  of 
Leeds,  was  with  me  for  the  night — greatly  cheered  in  his 
prospect  of  being  married  to  Martha  Lucy  Aggs — I  think 
there  is  a  prospect  of  happiness  for  them. 

The  next  day  : — 

Too  much  of  my  precious  time  ill  spent  over  newspapers  ; 
how  weak  I  am  in  being  attracted  to  read  them. 

I  don't  know  of  any  other  occasion  than  the  follow 
ing  which  is  mentioned  of  his  saying  anything  in  a 
meeting  for  worship  :— 

Exprest  a  few  words  at  the  close  of  the  meeting  under,  I 
trusted,  a  right  reverential  feeling,  but  in  desiring  that  He  Who 
promised  to  be  as  dew  to  Israel,  I  said  Nations  and  feel  sorry 
and  condemned. 

Wed.,  Oct.  24. — The  various  turns  and  dispensations  in  the 
lot  of  man  have  strikingly  been  before  me — the  parents  of  my 
late  dear  brother-in-law,  John  Hustler,  were  in  point  of  honour 
able  standing  in  the  world,  and  in  the  estimation  of  their 
fellow  professors  equal  to  any  family  almost.  After  John 
Hustler  married  my  sister,  his  property  rapidly  increased, 
their  union  was  short  and  happy.  Afterwards  he  married 
Mary  Mildred,  they  also  lived  happily,  very  open,  kind, 
hospitable  and  generous,  he  might  then  possess  £100,000. 
They  had  one  son,  thoughtless,  the  property  melted  away. 
My  brother  died  insolvent,  his  son  also,  and  my  dear  Sister- 
in-law  [step]  is  entirely  destitute  ! 

In  another  self-condemning  entry  about  "  reading 
very  unprofitably,"  he  says  : — 


Act.  82  THE  SPIRIT  OF  PRAISE.  275 

I  seem  to  abhor  myself  for  that  fluctuation  from  right  into 
wrong  and  that  knowingly  so  the  enemy  gets  hold  of  my  mind 
and  robs  it  of  some  of  that  strength,  etc. 

He  contrasts  with  his  record  on  the  24th  October 
one  he  makes  on  the  26th  of  the  great  success  of  his 
nephew,  G.  C.,  at  Smelt  House,  from  the  "  produce 
of  coal  on  his  father's  estate,"  the  father's 

walking  power  completely  gone  and  equally  so  every  mental 
power,  so  that  existence  may  be  said  to  resemble  vegetable 
rather  than  animal  life. 

On  the  27th  October  he  mentions  that  Joseph 
and  Emma  have  gone  to  see 

Margaret  Leatham,  probably  the  foundation  of  a  connection 
between  her  son  and  their  daughter  which  were  it  not  for 

has  quite  the  appearance  of  a  suitable 

union. 

Wed.,  Oct.  31. — I  almost  fear  to  note  that  on  waking  from 
sleep  a  sweet  sense  of  praise  and  extolling  the  name  of  my 
Saviour  and  His  wondrous  mercy,  it  appeared  that  the  book 
of  heaven  was  spread  flat  open  before  me,  and  I  was  surprised 
to  see  the  leaves  clean  and  white,  and  it  seemed  that  forcible 
impression  was  made  on  my  understanding  that  there  was  no 
record  against  me,  and  that  my  sins  were  forgiven.  I  was 
astonished  at  such  marvellous  mercy.  Great  as  the  comfort 
is  from  what  I  believe  to  be  unutterable  condesc'ension,  yet 
everything  says  be  not  highminded  but  fear. 

Sat.,  Nov.  3. — The  fifty-third  anniversary  of  my  union,  as 
sweet  as  ever  the  Highest  granted  to  His  children.  This  blessed 
gift  has  largely  if  not  altogether  conduced  to  make  me  love 
righteousness  and  seek  to  stand  approved  in  the  divine  sight. 
I  am  now  at  Kendal,  but  every  and  all  who  were  with  me  on 
the  above  occasion  are  gone.  .  .  . 

Tues.,  Nov.  13. — .  .  .  I  see  a  great  depreciation  of  my 
property  in  the  S.  and  D.  Railway,  not  less  than  thirty  to 


276  EDWARD  PEASE.  1849 

forty  thousand,  and  in  my  annual  income  from  that  source 
two  thousand  per  annum  and  probably  from  Newcastle  three 
thousand  per  annum.  May  these  reverses  not  restrain  my 
bounty  to  His  creature  man. 

Thurs.,  Nov.  15. — Appointed  as  a  day  of  thanksgiving 
by  the  Queen  on  account  of  the  abatement  of  the  wasting 
Cholera  which  is  said  to  have  diminished  the  population  60,000 
in  this  Kingdom.  In  the  town  of  Hull  the  mortality  is  said  to 
be  4,000.  Surely  thanksgiving  is  due  to  the  Most  High  for  His 
favour  to  this  place  where  the  pestilence  can  scarcely  be  said 
to  have  entered. 

At  meeting  on  the  igth  November ;  he  goes  to 
Cotherstone  to  a  public  meeting.  T.  Arnett  and  R. 
Jeffrey  go  with  him,  and  they  preach  in  the  Wesleyan 
Chapel. 

T.  A.'s  was  a  large  and  diffuse  declaration  of  gospel  truths 
for  ij  hours ;  the  meeting  was  very  quiet.  R.  Jeffrey  in  a  few 
clear  (words)  impressive  short  sermon. 

Wed.,  Dec.  12. — Left  Cleveland  Lodge  and  my  worthy 
cousin  [T.  R.  Richardson]  in  a  very  weak  state  mentally, 
unable  to  hold  any  converse  beyond  monosyllables  ;  memory 
and  all  the  powers  of  the  mind  very  much  gone. 

Sat.,  Dec.  15. — Being  now  82 J  years  old  I  feel  through 
unmerited  mercy  it  is  my  great  privilege  to  say  that  I  have 
not  found  that  a  life  extended  beyond  three  score  and  ten 
is  labour  and  sorrow,  for  if  it  had  not  pleased  to  take  from  me 
she  that  was  dearer  to  me  than  my  own  existence  such  is  the 
kindness  of  my  God,  mine  has  as  a  whole  been  a  life  of  happi 
ness,  yet  chastened  by  Him  Who  is  worthy  of  all  my  adoration 
and  with  some  useful  sorrows. 

He  ends  the  year  with  a  prayer  that  he  may  be  granted 

some  return  of  that  delighting  prospect  in  which  rejoicing  as 
a  bridegroom  going  to  meet  his  bride,  I  seemed  to  bid  an 
indescribably  joyous  farewell  to  all  that  was  dear  to  me  on 
earth  because  the  sweetness  of  heaven  seemed  to  open  on  my 
view. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
1850. 

He  anticipates  that  the  year  has  come  "  when 
the  decree  will  be  issued  TIME  TO  THEE  SHALL 
BE  NO  LONGER."  He  begins  the  year  at  Newcastle 
Quarterly  Meeting,  where 

a  proposition  from  York  Quarterly  Meeting  to  add  Guisborough 
(in  Yorkshire)  Monthly  Meeting  to  this  (Durham  and  Newcastle 
Quarterly  Meeting)  was  calmly  reviewed  and  left  for  considera 
tion  for  our  next. 

On  the  4th  January  "  nineteen  of  my  happy  good- 
looking  healthy  descendants  around  my  table  to 
spend  the  day  with  me,"  and  a  few  days  after  he  puts 
his  house  in  order  and  pays  all  his  accounts,  so  as 
"to  leave  nothing  unsettled"  during  a  two  months' 
absence. 

Mon.,  Jan.  7. — As  regards  worldly  things  the  gale  seemed 
blowing  pleasantly  and  gently  so  that  all  appeared  to  have  a 
more  than  usually  placid  surface — when  suddenly  there  appears 
a  malicious  attack  on  the  safety,  soundness  and  solvency  of  the 
S.  and  D.  Railway.  .  .  .  This  causes  my  Sons  some  solici 
tude.  My  hope  is  the  position  and  the  integrity  of  the  Directors 
will  rise  above  the  malevolence  of  the  attack. 

On  the  24th  January  he  arrives  at  the  Grove, 
Norwich,  now  the  residence  of  Joseph  John  Gurney's 
widow. 

277 


278  EDWARD  PEASE.  1850 

Almost  every  room  brings  with  it  the  recollectings  of  the 
who,  the  what,  the  joy  and  sorrow  I  have  known  in  them. 

Wed.,  Jan.  30 — Having  heard  of  Albert  Leatham's  appli 
cation  for  my  beloved  grand-daughter,  Rachel,  and  the  pros 
pect  of  his  gaining  her  affections,  I  have  wrote  a  thoughtful 
letter  to  her  ;  her  age,  not  yet  nineteen,  makes  the  care  more 
serious  in  my  view. 

Wed.,  Feb.  13 — Pure  charity  does  away  with  all  jealousy, 
distrust,  coldness  and  distance.  Assimilation  and  Love,  so 
far  as  principle  admits,  are  some  of  its  component  parts. 
This  charity  I  feared  was  incomplete  (in  me),  when  I  remem 
bered  Sarah  Emlen's  statement  (a  Friend  who  visited  this 
country)  respecting  J.  J.  Gurney.  In  her  last  illness  I  think 
that  she  did  twice  dream  that  she  saw  this  valuable  and  dear 
friend  in  the  Realms  of  Glory  and  heard  him  sing  the  song  of 
the  redeemed. 

This  is  written  at  Walden  and  then  he  goes  on  to 
Bristol,  and  then  to  London  to  attend  a  Meeting  for 
Sufferings  about  Tithes,  and  remarks 

the  very  varied  bearings  of  the  subject  are  but  little  understood 
so  I  go  as  a  learner  and  listener. 

Mow.,  Feb.  25. — Bristol.  Exceedingly  great  and  shameful 
turbulence  appears  to  be  in  some  of  the  Wesleyan  Chapels 
here  ;  a  refusal  to  let  the  President  speak  so  great  is  the  con 
tinued  uproar.  Very  reproachable  to  any  Christian  community. 
.  .  .  My  heart  says  visit  and  spare  Thy  people,  Oh  Lord. 

He  is  very  low  about  his  spiritual  condition  ;  such 
expressions  about  meeting  as  "  passing  through  the 
valley  of  Baca  without  finding  a  well,"  "  drought  equal 
to  that  spoken  of  by  the  prophet  Habbakuk  when 
there  was  no  fruit  in  the  vine,"  "a  day  of  desertion 
and  death,"  are  frequent  in  February  and  March. 

Wed.,  Mar.  13. — Called  on  five  poor  female  Friends  in  the 
Friends'  refuge  here  [Bristol]  each  clean,comfortable,  thankful, 


Act.  83  THE  DIXONS  OF  STAINDROP.  279 

a  pleasing,  interesting  visit.  .  .  .  There  is  a  quietude  of 
spirit  I  think  more  felt  and  better  understood  by  the  Society 
of  Friends  than  by  other  professors  generally,  and  were  it 
more  fully  carried,  would  lead  to  that  worship  in  spirit  and  in 
truth  that  is  acceptable  to  God. 

On  the  i6th  March  he  thinks  he  is  saying  "  Fare 
well  "  for  ever  to  his  daughter  and  son-in-law's  home  ; 
he  alludes  to  the  happiness  he  has  had  in  this  "  peaceful 
abode  "  with  reverent  thankfulness.  He  sees  his 

dear  children  endeavouring  to  walk  in  the  truth  and  in  my 
precious  daughter,  I  see  her  feet  more  and  more  turning  into 
the  path  of  the  flock  of  the  companions.  My  residence  as  to 
affection,  social  and  religious  love,  has  been  very  sweet,  yet 
my  soul  has  been  rather  sunk  within  me. 

He  travels  from  Bristol  to  Darlington  [8  a.m.  to 
9.30  p.m.],  and  puts  down  the  fare  for  himself  and 
his  servant  Charles,  £5  45.  On  the  2oth  March,  "  My 
Cousin  Thos.  Pease's  wedding  day  at  Winchmore 
Hill,"  and  is  pleased  that  his  grandchildren,  Joseph 
W.  Pease  and  Elizabeth  P.  Gibson  are  there. 

Thurs.,  Mar.  21. — Went  with  W.  Matthews  to  Staindrop 
meeting  where  he  had  good  service,  dining  at  Ralph  Dixon's.* 

*  There  is  little  doubt  that  this  Ralph  Dixon  of  Staindrop  is 
one  of  the  Dixons  of  that  place  and  Raby,  and  therefore  related 
to  the  ancestors  of  the  very  numerous  Quaker  family  of  this  name, 
from  which  sprung  the  Engineer  Dixons,  and  Sir  Raylton's  and  his 
brother,  Mr.  Waynman  Dixon's  families.  The  Ralph  Dixon  alluded 
to  by  Edward  Pease  had  an  extraordinary  career  :  not  a  highly  moral 
character  in  his  native  village,  he  enlisted  at  a  period  in  his  life  when 
the  "  war  with  France  was  very  hot,"  as  he  says  himself.  He  volun 
teered  into  the  3  ist  regiment  of  foot  for  active  service.  At  the  battle  of 
Talavera  he  was  shot  through  the  shoulder,  another  bullet  through  his 
hand,  his  cap  shot  off,  and  another  bullet  through  his  haversack.  He 
was,  after  an  extraordinary  recovery  from  a  mortified  shoulder  in  Lisbon 
Hospital,  invalided  home  and  discharged  as  an  out-pensioner  of  Chelsea 
Hospital,  and  returned  with  his  wife  and  son  to  his  native  village  to 
suffer  from  repeated  hemorrhage  from  his  lungs.  He  joined  the 
Methodists,  but  disliked  the  ostentatious  display  of  religious  experiences 
in  class  meetings,  and  he  turned  to  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  said, 
"  This  people  shall  be  my  people,  and  their  God  my  God."  He  could 


280  EDWARD  PEASE.  1850 

It  was  interesting  to  be  with  W.  M.  and  R.  D.,  two  Friends  who 
from  being  soldiers  with  carnal  weapons  had  laid  these  down 
and  become  clad  with  the  armour  of  Christ  and  with  weapons 
not  carnal  but  mighty  to  the  pulling  down  of  strongholds  of 
Satan.  .  .  . 

The  following  illustrates  the  attitude  of  the  Society  : 

Sunday,  Mar.  24. — .     .     .     John  (Pease)  in  the  forenoon 
was  engaged  in  lively  testimony ;  truly  Christian  Catholicism 


not,  he  felt,  swear  to  his  pension  half-yearly  before  a  Justice  of  the  Peace. 
The  .first  time  he  affirmed,  but  the  pension  burdened  his  mind. 
"  Friends  were  very  tender  over  me,  seldom  mentioning  it."  Appear 
ing  before  an  Exciseman  with  his  hat  on  as  a  Quaker,  the  Exciseman 
was  about  to  take  the  hat  off,  when  another  officer  said,  "  Let  him 
alone  ;  he  is  a  Quaker."  The  Exciseman  said,  "  If  he  is,  what  business 
has  he  with  a  pension,"  and  this  rebuke  he  felt  keenly,  and  soon  some 
words  from  Jonathan  and  Hannah  Chapman  Backhouse,  at  a  meeting 
he  attended,  made  him  feel  his  inconsistency,  so  he  wrote  in  1830  to 
the  Duke  of  Wellington  :  "  To  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  Respected 
Friend,"  recounted  his  service  and  wounds,  and  then  proceeded, 
"  But  having  been  long  convinced  that  all  war  is  anti-Christian,  I 
have  felt  at  times  uneasy  under  the  persuasion  that  the  receiving  of 
a  pension  was  inconsistent  with  that  belief,  besides  being  a  burden 
to  the  public  in  these  times  of  distress."  He  then  returns  thanks  for 
it,  and  goes  on,  "  Next  to  Divine  Providence,  my  thanks  are  due  to 
thee,  O  Duke,  for  the  great  care  that  was  taken  of  the  sick  and  wounded 
in  the  Peninsula,  otherwise  my  life  could  not  have  been  preserved  ; 
a  grateful  remembrance  of  which,  with  the  foregoing  reason,  is  the 
cause  of  my  taking  the  great  liberty  of  troubling  thee  with  this  letter. 
Desiring  thy  present  and  everlasting  welfare, 

"  I  remain, 

"  Thy  friend, 

"  Staindrop,  "  RALPH  DIXON. 

"  6th  mo.  27th,  1830." 

To  which  he  got  a  reply  saying  that  so  long  as  he  thought  proper 
to  discontinue  transmitting  the  usual  affidavits,  no  pension  could  be 
issued,  but  in  consideration  of  his  wife  and  family,  their  lordships 
(Lords  Commissioners  of  the  Hospital)  desired,  in  the  event  of  an  appli 
cation  at  any  future  period,  the  same  was  to  be  paid  as  heretofore. 
His  life  after  this  was  not  without  troubles,  but  in  peace  of  mind,  and 
in  good  service  to  the  Soicety,  he  lived  out  his  days  and  was  among 
Friends  numbered  as  one  of  those  "  who  had  come  out  of  much  tribula 
tion  and  had  their  robes  washed  and  made  white." 

This  Ralph  Dixon,  born  1785,  died  1854,  was  the  son  of  George 
Dixon,  a  Quaker  (but  disowned  for  marrying  out),  of  Staindrop,  and  his 
wife  Mary,  daughter  of  Ralph  Bowron.  His  (R.D.'s)  son,  George 
Dixon,  of  Great  Ayton  (born  1812,  died  1904)  was  a  great  Temperance 
advocate,  and  this  George  Dixon  was  the  father  of  Ralph  Dixon  (living 
1907),  who  was  for  thirty  years  the  Superintendent  of  Ayton  Friends' 
School. 


Act.  83  DARLINGTON  WATER  WORKS.  281 

was  in  it ;  the  universality  of  the  grace  of  God  and  that 
in  every  Christian  Church  and  all  sincere  worshippers  of 
God  everywhere  are  accepted  of  Him.  Much  excellent 
and  practical  counsel  was  also  in  this  communication. 

Mon.,  Mar.  25. —  A  time  of  great  confusion  and  destruc 
tion  in  what  are  termed  Christian  Churches  ;  the  cause  of  the 
great  discord  and  personal  mutual  insults  among  the  Wesleyans 
arises  from  dissensions  in  the  Conference  being  all  priests  (?) 
and  expelling  some  out  of  that  body  ;  this  excites  a  great 
ferment,  and  threatens  a  division.  Then  the  decision  of  the 
Privy  Council  going  far,  in  not  admitting  infant  baptism 
to  be  regeneration,  is  opposed  to  the  judgment  of  the  Bishop 
of  Exeter,  who  would  not  induct  one  Gorham  to  a  living  because 
he  did  not  admit  baptismal  regeneration. 

He  contemplates  with  "  peaceful  sweetness  "  the 
"  consoling  union  "  when  he  is  laid  by  the  side  of 
one  who  was  precious  to  him  beyond  all  words,  and 
"  very  near  [the  adjoining  graves]  the  resting-places 
of  dear  Jonathan  and  Hannah  C.  Backhouse,  having 
during  our  pilgrimage  wept  and  rejoiced  together." 

Wed.,  April  10. — My  dear  son  Joseph,  not  in  strong  health, 
left  home  this  morning  at  the  instance  of  Rothschild,  a  Jew 
whose  right  to  sit  in  Parliament  is  questioned  ;  he  thinks  the 
examination  of  Joseph  and  the  difficulties  he  had  to  overcome 
may  be  of  some  use  in  his  case. 

He  notes  that  there  is  in  this  town  a  population 
of  12,000,  and  barely  200  of  them  Friends,  and  that 
six  out  of  nine  of  the  Guardians  of  the  Poor  are  Friends. 
He  goes  to  Manchester  Quarterly  Meeting,  and  does 
not  like  it ;  the  meeting  sits  from  10  a.m.  till  past 
8  p.m.,  with  but  half-an-hour  for  refreshment.  On 
the  24th  April, 

Considerable  stir  in  the  town,  occasioned  by  this  being  the 
first  day  water  was  brought  into  the  town  from  the  new 
Water  Works. 

He  also  looks  for  a  speedy  dismissal  from  time, 
when  his  hour  comes,  by  apoplexy  or  paralysis. 


282  EDWARD  PEASE.  1850 

On  the  25th  he  has 

during  the  night,  with  vividness  and  force,  accompanied  with 
solid  and  comforting  impression  the  words  presented  to  me, 
Henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness, 
which  the  Lord  the  righteous  Judge  shall  give  me  at  that  day 
and  not  to  me  only  but  to  all  that  love  His  appearing. 

Mow.,  May  6. — A  day  of  lamentation  and  mourning.  I 
feel  that  I,  my  dear  family  and  friends  have  lost  one  who  was 
exceedingly  dear  to  us  is  the  death  of  Cousin  H.  C.  Backhouse, 
in  her  sixty-fourth  year  ...  in  the  course  of  last  night 
seized  by  partial  paralysis  and  peacefully  expired  at  11.45  this 
forenoon.  She  might  'be  said  to  be  one  of  the  brightest 

ornaments  and  most  upright  pillars  in  our  Church 

Happy,  freed  spirit,  her  reward  and  record  is  on  high. 

She  is  buried  the  following  Sunday.  He  goes 
soon  after  to  the  Yearly  Meeting  and  is  a  good  deal  at 
Tottenham.  One  Sunday  he  uses  an  old-fashioned 
expression,  "  The  meeting  was  large  and  the  lofts 
crowded,"  and  here  comes  a  great  innovation  ;  the 
Yearly  Meeting  has  under  consideration 

the  Norfolk  proposals  respecting  Grave  Stones  .  .  .  for  a 
while  discussed,  it  was  left  for  continued  consideration  when 
we  adjourned.  It  was  resumed  and  largely  considered,  with 
many  varying  sentiments,  all  in  good  brotherly  condescension, 
and  finally  agreed  that  small  flat  stones  be  laid  on  each  grave, 
bearing  the  name  of  the  deceased  and  age  on  it  only. 

When  he  returns  home  and  takes  again  his  "  wonted 
seat  "  in  the  "gallery,"  he  cannot  "  refrain  from  tears  " 
when  Ann  Barlow  "  takes  that  of  Hannah  C.  Back 
house,"  and  he  remembers  his  own  dead. 

Sat.,  June  8. — With  the  exception  of  two  or  three  interests 
now  exceedingly  depressed,  viz.,  the  Agricultural  and  Iron 
trade,  this  present  time,  I  think,  may  be  considered  as  a 
season  of  greater  general  national  quietude  in  a  satisfied  popu 
lation  than  I  ever  knew  before.  Wages,  except  for  the  poor 


Aet.  83 


ACKWORTH  SCHOOL. 


283 


tillers  of  the  soil,  are  good  and  may  be  said  to  be  fully  equal 
to  all  the  wants  of  the  poor,  the  necessaries  of  life  and  its 
luxuries  of  many  sorts  as  well  in  food  as  in  clothing,  are  much 
below  the  usual  scale  of  former  cost. 

Wed.,  June  19. —  .  .  .  Dear  Joseph  gone  to 
Manchester  to  promote  peace  and  profit  if  he  can  between 
the  Leeds  and  Liverpool  Canal  and  some  railways.  .  .  . 

He  plans  to  go  to  Ackworth  School  General  Meet 
ing  and  says : — 

My  attraction  to  this  turn-out  may  be  chiefly  to  see  the 
Flounders  Institute,  its  economy  and  working,  having  been  the 
permitted  instrument  in  bringing  this  establishment  into  view, 
in  meeting  with  and  associating  with  Benj.  Flounders,  and 
bringing  his  intentions  into  operation. 

On  the  same  day  (July  ist)  he  records  the  death 
of  Catherine  Gurney  :  "  I  feel  my  cotemporaries 
taking  the  lead."  He  goes  to  Ackworth. 

Received  by  many  friends  unknown  and  many  dear  friends 
known  to  me  with  great  kindness  and  marks  of  regard  very 
much  unmerited  by  me.  .  .  .  The  highest  class  evinced  a 
good  deal  of  talent  and  information  not  exceeding  what  I 
expected,  their  conduct  and  demeanour  was  good,  and  their 
general  happiness  apparent ,  and  it  appears  to  me  that  in  meeting 
and  out  of  meeting  there  were  indications  of  improvement  in 
seriousness  and  subduedness  to  better  feeling  than  I  had 
previously  noticed. 

Thurs.,  July  4. —  .  .  .  Converse  and  Concern  is  general 
in  the  death  of  that  most  talented  statesman  Sir  Robert 
Peel,  by  a  fall  from  his  horse  ;  whilst  all  his  policy  was  far 
from  my  entire  approval  I  considered  him  as  a  powerful 
regulating  fly-wheel  in  what  is  the  great  engine  of  Govern 
ment. 

Fri.,  July$. — Lodged  last  night  at  the  Flounders  Institute; 
connected  as  I  was  with  its  springing  into  life  and  its  infancy, 
it  was  on  many  grounds  deeply  interesting  to  me  to  be  there, 
and  I  thankfully  hope  the  foundation  may  be  of  real  benefit 


284  EDWARD  PEASE.  1850 

to  our  Society  from  that  literary  attainment  that  students 
may  there  acquire,  but  yet  what  is  of  far  greater  importance 
not  only  a  grounding  in  our  religious  principles  and  testimonies 
but  a  feeling  and  religiously  abiding  sense  of  them  in  regulating 
and  directing  their  conduct  under  the  presiding  influence  of 
the  Spirit  of  Christ,  the  alone  safe  Guide. 

He  goes  to  Liverpool  to  say  a  last  farewell  to  his 
dear  friend  Eliza  P.  Gurney,  who  is  going  to 
America,  and  the  following  is  a  typically  Quaker  record : 

Thurs.,  Aug.  i. — Reached  Liverpool  this  evening  and  found 
my  dear  friend  E.  P.  Gurney  with  her  niece  Harriet  Kirk- 
bride,*  S.  Gurney  and  her  daughter,  Frances  Cunningham  and 
wife,  f  also  S.  Corder  and  W.  Forster,  an  agreeable  affectionate 
company.  After  the  Scripture  reading  F.  C.  [Rev.  Francis 
Cunningham,  a  clergyman]  kneeled  and  was  long  in  prayer. 
According  to  my  feeling  the  holy  ear  was  not  opened  to 
hear  it  or  the  spirit  sufficiently  baptised  into  Christ  to  draw 
his  overshadowing  love  into  presiding  dominion,  but  oh,  for 
that  lively  quickened  spirit  in  which  there  is  a  measure  of 
true  Judgment.  .  .  . 

Sat.,  Aug.  3. — After  our  morning  reading  and  a  short 
solemn  pause  Richenda  Cunningham  addressed  dear  Eliza 
Gurney  in  terms  of  near  and  sweet  affection.  Her  own  love 
and  the  love  of  every  individual  member  of  the  family,  the 
great  treasure  she  had  been  to  her  best  of  brothers  (Joseph 
John  Gurney)  and  the  great  treasure  and  blessing  she  had  been 
made  to  all  of  them.  Eliza,  with  tears  and  sobs,  felt  how 
much  she  was  giving  up,  how  unspeakably  dear  all  of  them 
were  to  her,  how  remarkable  had  been  her  lot,  how  unmerited 
blessings  and  the  deepest  of  trials  had  been  the  dispensation 
for  which  neither  her  services  nor  thanks  could  bear  com 
parison. 

Sat.,  Aug.  24. — On  reading  the  pious  lives  and  experiences 
of  those  who  have  been  bright  and  powerful  instruments, 

*  She  married  Theodore  Fox,  of  Falmouth,  afterwards  of 
Pinchinthorpe. 

f  nbe  Richenda  Gurney,  of  Earlham. 


Act.  83  AT  MARSKE.  285 

especially  in  the  early  days  of  our  Society;  I  have  been  struck 
with  their  prospects,  prophecies  and  foretelling  of  coming 
events,  very  many  of  which  do  not  appear  to  have  been  realised. 
It  appears  to  me  that  there  is  naturally  in  the  human  mind 
apprehensions  of  the  coming  times  being  fraught  with  im 
portant  events  and  that  the  deeply  seriously  religious  feeling 
that  the  sinfulness  of  the  times  is  worthy  to  be  punished 
but  under  Divine  compassion  and  long  suffering  mercy  He  has 
not  permitted  His  judgments  to  fall  as  poor  weak  mistaken 
servants  dreaded. 

He  stays  at  Marske  for  the  end  of  August  ;  enjoys 
watching  the  "  harvest  ingathering "  in  beautiful 
weather,  and  one  evening, 

after  a  serious  reading  of  the  testimony  concerning  Ann 
Alexander,  and  a  psalm,  warm  desires  were  awakened  in  my 
mind  for  the  progress  of  my  beloved  Grandchildren  and  us 
all  in  the  way  of  holiness.  I  ventured  under  some  mental 
solemnity  to  remind  us  that  every  new  day  presented  to  us 
every  one,  a  new  day's  work  to  be  done,  and  my  desire  was  that 
our  daily  service  and  daily  duties  might  be  faithfully  fulfilled 
to  our  God. 

He  leaves  Marske  with  Susan  Fry,  the  Edmund 
Backhouses,  and  James  Cropper  and  his  wife.  I 
think  Mr.  and  Mrs.  James  Cropper  were  at  this  time 
living  at  Thornton  Fields,  near  Guisbrough. 

Thurs.,Sept.$. — Another  awful  monition  to  live  prepared 
for  the  final  Audit  in  the  presence  of  the  righteous  Judge. 
Win.  Kitching  very  suddenly  died  in  his  chair.  He  had  been 
but  a  little  indisposed  previously.  I  fear  he  might  be  but 
little  prepared  for  this  sudden  summons,  having  for  years 
neglected  our  religious  meetings  and  all  places  of  worship. 
He  was  about  fifty-two  years  of  age.  .  .  . 

Fri.,  Sept.  13. — This  is  the  day  for  the  Horticultural 
Exhibition,  which  is  said  to  be  very  beautiful.  .  .  .  I  do 
not  feel  it  best  to  countenance  it  by  my  presence.  I  do  not 


286  EDWARD  PEASE.  1850 

condemn  others  herein,  but  I  wish  all  I  love  with  my  own  self 
to  possess  a  tender  enlightened  conscience,  looking  for  the 
coming  of  the  directing  spirit  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 

Sat.,  Sept.  14. — Very  sweet  is  the  contemplation  of  those 
very  precious  Ones  who  were  my  joy  on  earth  and  now  sanctified 
in  heaven.  .  .  .  My  sainted,  blessed  Rachel,  my  pious- 
minded,  upright,  just  Edward,  my  talented,  lovely,  strong- 
minded  Mary,  my  very  dear  Isaac,  apparently  fated  to  be  a 
bright,  fine  talented  man,  in  person  comely.  Oh,  precious 
Group ! 

Tues.,  Oct.  i. — Our  Q.  M.,  the  first  in  which  Guisbrough 
Monthly  Meeting  was  added  to  it.  ... 

He  entertains  among  other  visitors  "two  Foxes,  of 
Falmouth,  daughters  of  Alfred  Fox."  On  the  i8th 
October  he  remembers  whilst  enjoying  "  the  beautiful 
creation  in  all  its  richness"  on  a  day  spent  at  Stan  wick 
with  the  Fox  girls  and  two  of  his  grandsons,  that  it  is 
the  "  seventeenth  anniversary  of  his  bereaved  state." 

Wed.,  Nov.  6. — General  agitation  may  be  said  to  pervade 
the  kingdom,  especially  amongst  the  Protestants  and  their 
clergy,  on  account  of  the  pope  having  appointed  Bishops  in 
many  of  his  own  marked-out  dioceses  in  England  and  Scotland. 
The  arrogance  of  the  measure  seems  as  if  it  would  be  indig 
nantly  repelled  by  the  people  and  the  Legislature.  While  this 
ought  to  be  done,  I  fear  some  concessions  or  powers  may  spring 
out  of  this  resistance  which  may  fasten  the  present  anti- 
Christian  hierarchy  more  firmly  upon  us. 

He  visits  Osmotherly,  Shildon,  Staindrop  and 
other  places. 

Wed.,  Nov.  13. — Having  heard  that  Friends  were  about  to 
hold  a  meeting  composed  of  our  members  for  the  promotion 
of  the  cause  of  Total  Abstinence  and  that  Edw.  Smith,  of 
Sheffield,  and  S.  Bewley,  of  Gloucester,  were  to  be  here  for  the 


Aet.  83  CHRISTMAS  DAY.  287 

purpose  I  addressed  a  letter  to  my  Cousin  Kath.  Backhouse, 
and  expressed  my  fears  that  the  holding  of  a  meeting  so  con 
stituted  might  endanger  the  unity,  harmony  and  peace  of 
our  Society,  and  I  stand  in  awe  of  the  ultimate  results.  There 
in  all  the  kindness  of  Christian  love  and  charity  I  can  leave  it. 

The  death  of  his  "  ancient  peaceable  and  worthy 
friend,  Jos.  Neville,"  on  the  I7th  November,  in  his 
eighty-seventh  year,  leaves  him  "  the  most  ancient 
member  of  this  large  meeting."  On  the  27th  he 
leaves  for  London  to  attend  the  Tithe  Commutation 
meeting,  and  the  next  day  "  called  to  see  the  Glass 
erection  for  the  Exhibition,  a  great  national  work  " 
(afterwards  removed  to  its  present  site,  and  known 
as  the  Crystal  Palace).  Then  he  goes  to  Bristol,  and 
on  the  4th  December,  to  a  meeting  at  Bridgwater, 
where 

the  meeting  was  injured  by  an  immoderate  flow  of  words 
for  about  three  quarters  of  an  hour.*  On  the  Friend  taking  his 
seat  I  may  say,  I  think,  I  was  moved  to  stand  up  and  say 
"  now  dear  Friends,  let  us  endeavour  to  let  God  arise  that  His 
enemies  may  be  scattered  and  flee  before  Him."  The  meeting 
appeared  then  to  settle  well. 

He  then  goes  on  to  Gloucester  and  Cirencester.  On 
the  24th  December  there  is  a  curious  entry  : — 

Intruding  thoughts  that  I  was  unable,  through  weakness 
and  having  too  much  indulged  out  of  meeting,  most  lament 
ably  stole  away  my  devotion,  so  that  instead  of  worshipping 
and  honouring  my  God  I  came  away  with  the  sense  that  I  had 
dishonoured  Him.  O  Lord,  pity  this  the  iniquity  of  thy  poor 
creature. 

*  Among  the  old  Queries  which  had  to  be  answered  at  Quarterly 
Meetings,  I  find  such  as  the  following  recorded  in  the  Books  of  the 
Guisbrough  and  Ayton  Monthly  Meeting  drawn  up  at  York  the  3oth 
of  the  4th  month,  1737: — "Are  ministers  careful  to  deliver  Testimonies 
in  a  plain,  sound,  intelligible  manner  without  any  unbecoming  Tones, 
Sounds  or  Gestors,  and  not  to  misquote,  miscite,  or  misapply  the  Holy 
Scriptures.  Are  they  free  from  being  troublesome  and  uneasy  to 
meetings  by  too  long  and  Tedious  Testimonies  when  Life  doth  not 
attend  them,  and  do  they  give  way  to  Strangers  ?  " 


288  EDWARD  PEASE.  1850 

The  next  day  he  writes  : — 

Christmas  Day,  a  day  conspicuous  for  attention  to  religious 
duties  and  feasting ;  how  incompatible  are  these." 

His  last  words  on  the  last  day  of  the  year  are  : — 

My  love  to  my  Brethren  as  I  sink  in  age  rises  with  advanc 
ing  years  and  Love  to  the  cause  of  truth  as  manifested  in  the 
Gospel,  and  revealed  in  the  Spirit  that  gave  it  forth  as  held 
by  our  beloved  truly  Christian  Society,  has  the  fullest  accep 
tance  in  my  bosom,  and  our  testimonies  valued  beyond  all 
price.  Three  score  and  ten  years  of  the  working  of  these 
principles  in  many  gone  to  their  heavenly  home  tends  to  con 
firm  my  faith  in  none  working  better. 


CHAPTER  XV. 
1851. 

As  age  increases,  Edward  Pease's  piety  gains  in 
hope,  though  the  same  diffidence  is  always  in  evidence. 
It  is  impossible  to  confine  extracts  to  merely  passing 
events,  and  the  reader  who  has  tired  of  his  religious 
sentiments  and  his  self-examination  had  better  put 
down  the  journal,  or  just  glance  over  the  pages  to 
pick  out  the  items  of  local  interest,  or  those  which 
touch  on  the  history  of  his  time. 

The  review  of  my  position  in  this  opening  year  .  .  . 
finds  me  confirmed  in  the  substantial  truth  of  those  principles 
which,  through  the  measure  of  mercy  and  grace  granted  me,  it 
has  in  the  latter  years  of  my  life  been  my  desire  more  con 
stantly  and  more  decidedly  to  live  up  to — and  thanks  to  my 
God  He  has  condescended  to  meet  me  and  more,  to  guide  me 
by  His  eye,  giving  me  at  seasons,  while  under  a  very  humiliating 
sense  of  my  great  unworthiness  to  believe  in  those  precious 
promises  made  to  those  who  love  Him — and  in  reverent 
appeal  I  may  use  the  words  of  the  Apostle  : — "  Thou  knowest 
Lord  that  I  love  Thee." 

He  alludes  to  the  events  of  the  past  year  and  "  its 
pecuniary  vicissitudes,"  from  which  he  has  been  far 
from  escaping,  "  reduced  in  income  and  in  capital," 
"  not  from  any  speculations  as  from  them  I  have 
been  favoured  to  be  free,"  but  "  accepts  this  great 
change  without  any  repining  or  any  regard,"  certain 
that  it  is  "  directed  in  infinite  loving  kindness  "  to 
himself  and  his  descendants. 

289 


290  EDWARD  PEASE.  1851 

January  finds  him  at  Walden,  where  he  is  surrounded 
by  all  the  care  and  attention  that  a  daughter's  love 
and  those  around  can  bestow  :  "  by  day  there  is 
abundance,  the  finest  of  wheat  ;  by  night  the  softest 
of  downy  beds  and  pillows,"  "  always  free  from  want, 
misery  and  pain." 

Fri.,  Jan.  10. — Walden.  The  agricultural  distress  of  this 
district  is  very  great,  the  low  price  of  grain  very  much  impover 
ishing  the  farmers,  and  the  general  want  of  employ  for  the 
labourers  is  the  cause  of  much  misery  to  them  ;  100  persons 
were  taken  into  the  workhouse  one  day  this  week — they  seem 
driven  to  desperation  and  being  without  religious  subjection, 
wickedly  burn  down  the  premises  and  stacks  of  the  farmers.  It 
was  observed  by  one,  that  he  had  seen  such  a  burning  every 
night  last  week. 

M on.,  Jan.  20. —  .  .  .  Much  indoors  ;  read  some  parts 
of  the  book  of  Common  Prayer,  as  edited  and  published  by 
good,  virtuous,  fine-minded  Judge  Bayley,  for  whom  I  had  a 
strong  friendship. 

The  following  day  he  is  anxious  as  to  how  his  son 
Joseph's  "  meeting  with  a  considerable  company  of 
disappointed  Stockton  and  Darlington  [Railway] 
Shareholders  "  in  London  will  go  off,  and  expects 
that  he  will  have  to  bear  "  altogether  unmerited 
the  brunt  of  it,"  "  for  his  sacrifice  of  property,  time 
and  talent,  and  unwavering  patient  integrity,  has 
ever  been  given  to  the  interest  of  that  concern." 
He  is  "  thankful  that  he  has  borne  all  with  exemplary 
patience  and  meekness."  But  the  meeting  goes  off 
"  tolerably  agreeably,"  and  he  hopes  his  sons  will 
take  the  chance  of  getting  "  free  from  all  this  turmoil," 
but  "  fears  if  Redcar  Harbour  is  made,  the  cares 
of  my  sons  will  increase,  as  they  will  be  looked  to." 
He  relates  the  same  week  that  every  "  Friend  "  in 
Walden  attends  the  "  week-day  meeting  "  regularly, 


Aet.84  DISCOVERY  OF  IRONSTONE.  291 

and  that  "  this  is  their  very  commendable  practice 
both  on  first-day  forenoons  and  afternoons." 

Wed.,  Feb.  29. — Having  read  in  Thos.  Kimber,  Jun's  letter 
to  my  son  John,  of  a  striking  conversation  he,  T.  K.  had  at 
Lyons  with  Hughes,  the  roman  catholic  Archbishop  of  New 
York,  by  which  it  was  obviously  the  design  of  the  Romanists 
to  limit  all  history  and  literature  to  their  dark  designs,  I  sent 
a  copy  of  the  converse  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  with 
a  desire  to  place  him  in  possession  of  their  views  and  my  wish 
that  the  grant  to  Maynooth  school  might  be  discontinued. 

On  the  ist  of  February  he  is  once  more  at  home, 
and  is  "  delighted  to  meet  all  my  beloved  children 
and  grandchildren  in  the  course  of  the  day."  On 
the  7th,  "  however  innocent  and  amusing  an  evening 
was  spent  in  a  private  exhibition  by  Nephew  Joseph 
Whitwell  of  his  magic  lantern,  I  feel  in  measure 
condemned  .  .  ,  remembering  the  time  is  short !  " 

Sat.,  Feb.  8. — Great  are  the  anticipations  of  advantage  to  the 
railway  and  many  parties  connected  with  the  iron  trade  from 
the  discovery  of  rich  extensive  veins  of  ironstone  under  Eston 
Nab,  and  continuing  to  run  South  in  the  line  of  the  Cleveland 
Hills. 

He  goes  to  stay  with  his  old  friend  and  cousin,  Thomas 
Richardson,  at  Cleveland  Lodge,  to  attend  as  usual 
the  Ayton  School  Committee,  and  finds  him  in  a  debili 
tated  state  ("  had  not  risen  at  9.30  a.m."),  but  with  a 
"  countenance  kind,  affectionate,  and  pleasantly 
serene." 

Sat.,  Feb.  22. — My  dear  Granddaughter,  E.  P.  Gibson,  came 
last  evening.  Great  political  changes — the  Prime  Minister, 
Lord  John  Russell,  resigns.  The  prosperity  of  the  kingdom  was 
great,  and  all  seemed  settled  peace  and  safety  when  the  plan  of 
abated  taxes  was  brought  in  by  a  blundering  Chancellor  of 


292  EDWARD  PEASE.  1851 

the  Exchequer,  which  not  being  carried,  of  course  the  ministry 
must  be  formed  anew  with  or  without  a  dissolution  of 
Parliament. 

Mon.,  Feb.  24. — The  vast  departure  in  our  religious  society 
from  the  simplicity  of  the  gospel  and  the  example  of  Friends 
in  my  early  days,  in  language,  in  furniture,  pictures  and  decora 
tions,  is  such  that  should  Friends  proceed  in  deviation  for 
another  generation  as  they  have  done,  they  will  wear  out 
Quakerism. 

Sat.,  Mar.  i. — Nothing  settled  as  to  our  Government 
Legislature,  the  alliance  of  all  the  papist  Members  for  Ireland 
bids  fair  for  creating  a  troublesome  opposition  if  any  steps  are 
taken  to  counteract  the  arrogant  pope's  bull. 

Thurs.,  Mar.  6. — The  marriage*  of  my  granddaughter 
Rachel  [to  Albert  Leatham]  this  day  solemnised  was  in  a  large 
and  crowded  meeting  very  still  and  well  behaved ;  it  felt  to  me 
a  peculiarly  solid  sweet  feeling  of  peace  on  our  first  sitting  down. 
...  I  humbly  ventured  to  hope  it  was  the  earnest  of  a  union 
that  ere  its  close  would  have  evident  sanctioning  evidences  of 
being  marked  with  Divine  approvance. 

Sat.,  Mar.  15. — Encreased  feelings  of  rapid  breathing  in 
walking  and  in  ascending  rising  ground  tell  me  the  powers 
of  existence  are  rather  rapidly  diminishing  and  it  may  be  some 
accumulating  water  may  be  in  my  chest  and,  at  some  nearly 
approaching  day,  close  very  suddenly  my  pilgrimage.  .  . 

Mon.,  Mar.  17. — Last  year  an  income  five  times  more 
than  my  expenditure,  this  year  not  an  income  equal  to  its 
worth.  S.  and  D.  Railway  shares  once  deemed  worth  £360 
have  been  sold  at  £30,  so  that  this  property,  once  deemed  worth 
£60,000,  now  worth  £3,000. 

There  are  several  allusions  to  "  the  retrograde 
movement  from  the  faithful  support  of  our  ancient 
testimonies."  He  ascribes  the  fact  that  Friends 

*  Vide  Appendix  II. 


Act.  84  FRIENDS  AS  MAGISTRATES.  293 

do  not  now  feel  that  they  "  are  laid  upon  them  to  bear  " 
to  the  fact  that  there  has  not  been  "  a  yielding  to  the 
still  small  voice,  and  new  disobedience  has  closed 
the  eye."  I  had  not  realised  that  Friends  of  this 
comparatively  late  date  stood  aloof  from  the  Commis 
sion  of  the  Peace,  but  the  diary  records  (2Qth  March), 
"  My  cousin,  Edmund  Backhouse,  accepting  a  com 
mission  as  a  Justice  of  the  Peace,  gives  me  concern." 
Note  the  reasons  for  the  concern. 

The  wasting  of  his  mind  as  a  religious  character,  the  opening 
of  a  door  to  worldly  entanglement,  and  the  effect  on  his  descen 
dants  likely  to  estrange  all  the  family  from  Friends. 

Sun.,  Mar.  30. — This  being  the  Government  appointed 
day  for  taking  the  numbers  in  dissenters'  meetings,  the  enu 
meration  in  ours  was  in  the  forenoon  187,  in  the  afternoon  167. 

Tues.,  April  i. — Agreeable  to  the  permission  of  the  Yearly 
Meeting,  and  accorded  with  by  our  Monthly  Meeting,  that 
Grave  Stones  might  be  placed  on  the  graves,  I  directed  one 
to  be  laid  where  the  remains  of  her,  my  precious  companion, 
were  laid,  and  the  letters  cut, 

RACHEL  PEASE. 

JE  62,   1853. 

How  soon  he  who  faithfully  and  inexpressibly  affectionately 
fulfilled  his  sacred,  inviolable  promise  may  require 
EDWARD  PEASE. 

M    185    . 

is  known  only  to  my  Lord,  whom  I  desire  to  serve  and  do 
love. 

The  following  illustrates  the  attitude  of  an  elder 
on  the  question  of  "  marrying  out  "  : 

Sat.,  April  12. — Tomoro  with  Is.  Sharp  to  visit 

who,  in  being  married  to  a  person  not  a  member  at  a  register 
office  has  violated  our  rules,  yet  by  this  act  he  has  violated  no 
moral  law.  Yet  great  would  be  that  confusion  and  trouble  if 


294  EDWARD  PEASE.  1851 

such  unions  were  sanctioned  by  meetings — the  way  to  un 
suitable  unions  would  be  made  easy — neither  would  [it  yield] 
that  discretion  nor  that  religious  solemnity  by  which  the  tie 
for  life  would  have  their  attendant  solemnity,  and  that  re 
ligious  bearing  which  is  safe  and  desirable,  and  if  there  was 
offspring  the  responsible  care  of  them  would  not,  probably, 
be  consistent  with  our  profession. 

One  day  this  month  he  is 

glad  and  thankful  for  the  various  checks  to  the  natural  liveli 
ness  of  my  disposition,  and  that  over  cheerfulness  which  so 
often  causes  me  much  Regret. 

He  takes  a  very  serious  view  of  the  losses  at  the 
family  collieries,  and  gives  a  list  for  certain  months 
of  the  losses  at  the  various  pits  : — 

i 

12  mo.  Loss  on  Pease's  West   . .         . .     2,029 

1  mo.         „        Ditto 973 

12  mo.         „         Edward  Pit     ..  •       ..        333 

3  mo.  ,,  Pease's  West  . .  . .  1,490 

3  mo.  „  Edward  Pit  . .  . .  594 

2  mo.  ,,  Adelaide  . .  . .  381 

3  mo.  „  Ditto  ..  ..  457 

1  mo.         ,,        South  Durham  ..        141 

2  mo.         „         Ditto  . .         . .          79 

3  mo.         „         Ditto  . .          . .        156 

6,633 
and  gains  . .          . .     1,084 


Wed.,  May  7. — My  beloved  Joseph  now  busily  engaged 
in  London  on  the  Tees  Conservancy  Bill,  and  one  regarding  the 
financial  state  of  the  Stockton  and  Darlington  Railway,  also 
some  cases  about  Redcar  Harbour.  I  regret  this  load  of 
care.  .  .  . 

He  goes  to  the  Yearly  Meeting  in  London. 


Aet.  84  THE  GREAT  EXHIBITION.  295 

Wed.,  May  21. — A  strenuous  effort  was  made  by  Jos.  Sturge, 
Chas.  Gilpin,  G.  Alexander,  and  others  to  have  an  epistle 
addressed  to  our  American  brethren  to  stir  them  up  and  quicken 
their  zeal  to  address  their  Legislature  on  the  Atrocity  of  the 
fugitive  slave  law.  The  effort  was  over-ruled  by  a  calm  delib 
eration  of  our  relative  position,  how  far  we  could  constitu 
tionally  interfere  with  our  brethren  there ;  our  correspondence 
being  with  Yearly  Meetings. 

Saturday,  3ist  May,  he  enters  his  eighty-fifth  year. 
Little  respecting  his  work  at  the  Yearly  Meeting  needs 
to  be  quoted,  but  this  reference  to  John  Bright  may 
be  of  interest : 

One  minute  advising  friends  not  to  print  anything  that  may 
be  left  on  the  Yearly  Meeting  book  for  consideration  was 
warmly  attacked  by  John  Bright  in  a  strain  as  unpleasant  as 
proving  that  he  was  not  acquainted  with  the  constitution  of 
the  Society. 

He  visits  the  Great  Exhibition,  and  exclaims,  "  And 
a  most  wonderful  exhibition  it  is  :  no  description 
could  extend  to  its  minutiae."  He  spends  "  four  or 
five  hours  "  there,  "  greatly  gratified  "  ;  "  yet  on 
laying  my  head  on  the  pillow,  and  remembering  how 
the  day  had  been  spent,  I  thought  one  hour's  com 
muning  with,  and  a  feeling  of  my  Saviour's  confirming, 
cheering  love,  was  to  me  of  more  value  than  all  my 
eyes  beheld." 

He  then  goes  to  Bristol.  On  returning  home 
he  records  the  general  condition  of  crops  and  weather, 
and  his  own  hay  occupies  his  care.  On  the  8th  June 

had  the  great  comfort  of  having  nineteen  of  my  beloved  chil 
dren  and  grandchildren  to  spend  a  sweetly  enjoyed  and  peace 
ful  day  with  me.  How  inexpressibly  dear  all  my  beloved 
sons  and  daughters  are  to  me.  Greater  affection  sons  and 
daughters  never  evinced,  and  the  comfort  of  their  upright 
walking  exceedingly  endears  them  to  me. 


296  EDWARD  PEASE.  1851 

He  has  this  month  "  Some  gentle  dealing  and  affec 
tionate  brotherly  interest  with  a  dear  young  man, 
now  quite  neglecting  week-day  meeting,  and  very 
uncertain  in  attendance  on  First-days,"  which  affords 
him  "  some  satisfaction  as  the  discharge  of  a  too  long 
omitted  duty." 

Sat.,  July  26. — Marske.  Observed  the  Consett  Iron  Works 
Co.  making  a  railway  from  the  ironstone  belonging  to  Lord 
Zetland  to  the  S.  and  D.  Railway.  The  growing  wheat  had 
a  very  beautiful  regular  appearance,  with  a  yellowish  tinge. 
Three  weeks  of  fine  weather  might  advance  it  to  fitness  for  the 
sickle. 

At  the  end  of  the  month  he  goes  to  Ben  Rhydding 
to  see  "  Cousins  Thomas,  Lucy  and  Rachel  Fowler  "  : 

I  saw  my  valued  Cousin,  T.  Fowler,  with  much  concern 
from  the  apprehension  that  his  was  an  irremediable  indisposi 
tion,  his  active,  lively,  energetic  frame  had  all  the  appearance 
of  the  infirmity  of  old  age,  lame,  languid,  and  slow  in  his  pace. 

Fri.,  Aug  i. — Ben  Rhydding,  an  elevated,  large,  ornamental 
house,  is  beautifully  situated,  making  up  a  hundred  beds. 
The  copious  use  of  cold  water,  folding  in  wet  sheets  or  in  blankets 
has  much  of  human  in  it,  and  as  a  system  or  as  declared  effica 
cious  may  go  out  of  use,  but  its  salubrious  position  will 
remain  attractive.  .  . 

On  returning  home  he  travels 

a  little  distance  to  see  a  poor  friend,  Thomas  Harding.  About 
three  weeks  ago  his  leg  was  amputated ;  since  that  time  his 
health  has  been  sinking,  and  now,  heavily  panting  for  breath, 
his  close  seems  near ;  he  was  in  a  pious  disposition  of  mind  ; 
his  solicitude  was  great  to  feel  his  Saviour  near,  and  my  trust 
was  that  He  was  near  and  would  be  with  him  when  he  was 
permitted  to  pass  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death. 

His  old  wickedness  besets  him  at  times. 


Act.  84         ILLUSTRATED  LONDON  NEWS.  297 

Mon.,  Aug.  ii. — Condemned  for  time  spent  in  looking  over 
the  Illustrated  London  News,  and  reading  some  of  its  articles. 
This  work  is  one  of  the  attractive  fascinations  of  the  present 
times. 

How  this  entry  calls  up  memories  of  my  boyhood. 
The  Illustrated  London  News  was  then  the  only  illus 
trated  paper,  I  suppose,  in  the  world  ;  it  was  consid 
ered  wonderful,  and  was  generally  found  in  Friends' 
families.  My  grandfather,  Joseph  Pease,  as  long  as 
he  lived,  sent  my  brother  and  myself  this  paper 
regularly  to  school,  with  many  other  things,  and  many 
tips.  With  his  death  we  lost  at  least  half  our  incomes, 
half  our  provisions,  and  more  than  half  our  literature. 
I  can  remember  the  incredulity  with  which  the  idea 
of  any  possible  competitor  with  the  Illustrated  News 
was  received,  and  the  astonishment  when  a  rival  in 
the  shape  of  The  Graphic  appeared  on  the  scene. 
But  the  family  remained  faithful  to  the  old  paper 
to  the  end. 

He  journeys  to  "  Edinbro  "  in  August,  to  join 
the  Yearly  Meeting  Committee,  and  receives  a  kind 
welcome  from  his  dear  friend,  Wm.  Miller,  and  meets 
Samuel  Capper  there  :  he  does  not  forget  the  i6th 
August  as  the  "  anniversary  of  precious  Rachel's 
marriage."  He  goes  to  "  a  Monthly  Meeting "  at 
"  Kinmuck,"  "  a  few  substantial  Friends  here  :  some 
of  them  very  enterprising,  energetic  characters," 
shown  "  in  the  improvement  of  their  large  farms 
and  celebrated  fine  cattle,"  but  would  be  glad  to  see 
the  things  that  exclude  God's  "  righteous  sway  over 
turned  in  them."  Then  to  Aberdeen  General  Meeting, 
"  very  small,  nineteen  men,  about  twenty-seven 
women,"  but  "  an  agreeable  and  satisfactory  one," 
but  he  wished  "  truth  had  been  felt  to  be  more  in 
dominion."  Then  on  to  Edinburgh  and  Kendal. 
At  the  latter  place  : 


298  EDWARD  PEASE.  1851 

I  received  from  my  most  worthily  beloved  Sister 
Whit  well,  a  welcome  as  warm  as  a  long  unbroken  Sisterly 
love  could  give.  .  .  We  were  comforted  in  each  other's 
presence. 

He  then  makes  visits  in  Yorkshire. 

Fri.,  Sep.  12. — What  proofs  arise  that  we  build  too  low  if 
we  build  beneath  the  skies  !  Twelve  months  ago  nothing  could 
exceed  the  depression  of  Stockton  and  Darlington  (Railway). 
Shares  sold  for  £30,  once  deemed  worth £300,  and  estimated 
in  my  schedule  three  or  four  years  ago  at  £250.  The  change 
reduces  my  personal  property  about  35,000.  At  this  I  have  no 
repining,  I  accept  it  thankfully  for  my  family  and  . 
as  permitted  for  the  staining  of  human  glory  by  a  reduction  of 
my  children  and  grandchildren's  portions. 

He  desires  to  see 

a  reviving  in  our  young  friends,  and  in  all  a  reverent  solemn 
abiding  under  the  government  of  the  Spirit  of  Christ  .  .  . 
but  passing  along  as  I  fear  our  Society  generally  (is  doing) 
without  sufficient  heed  to  the  Holy  Spirit  it  will  die. 

His  daughter  Rachel  Fry's  condition  causes  him 
constant  anxiety  now.  He  mourns  on  the  2Qth 
September  the  death  of  "  valued  dear  Cousin  Thos. 
Fowler,  as  a  most  kind-hearted,  exertive  friend  of 
great  integrity  "  ;  his  widow,  "  dear  Lucy  "  has  his 
sympathy.  His  next-door  neighbour,  Ann  Coleman, 
is  dying,  "  long  a  fellow-member  and  valued  friend." 
He  is  tried  one  day  by  a  number  of  "  stranger  Friends," 
who  protract  the  meeting,  and  "  ran  into  a  multitude 
of  petitions — too  many  for  the  Queen,  etc.,  etc." 
He  says  of  Guisbro'  Monthly  Meeting  that  there  is 
just  now  "  weakness  and  want  of  love  apparent." 

Thurs.,  Oct.  16. — Inconsequence  of  the  interment  of  Ann 
Coleman's  remains  to-morrow,  the  week-day  meeting  was  not 


Aet.  84    DEATH  OF  HENRY  BARCLAY.       299 

held.  Heard  of  the  death  of  Henry  Barclay,*  an  agreeable 
young  man,  a  first  cousin  to  my  dear  grandchildren  at  Southend. 
May  his  decease  in  the  bloom  of  youth  be  to  them  one  of  those 
solemnly  sealed  lessons.  .  .  . 

On  the  occasion  of  the  funeral  of  Ann  Coleman, 

there  was  granted  me  a  visitation  of  heavenly  love  that  I  feel 
in  abject  humility  bound  to  record — a  sense  of  the  nearness  of 
the  Comforter  and  that  it  should  be  well  with  me  in  the  end, 
and  that  where  He  was  and  my  dearly  beloved  was,  I  should 
be  also. 

Sat.,  Oct.  18. — This  is  the  day  of  the  interment  of  Henry 
Barclay's  remains  at  Winchmore  Hill.  May  the  removal  of 
this  dear  youth  and  first  cousin  to  my  Grandson  J.  W.  P.  have 
a  teaching  effect  in  it  which  shall  induce  him  with  full  purpose 
of  heart  to  seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  largely  staining 
all  that  has  this  world's  lure  in  it. 

Fri.,  Oct.  24. — My  young  friends,  Ann  Deborah  Richardson 
and  Sarah  Jane  Wigham,  left  this  forenoon  after  an  agreeable 
visit  of  about  two  weeks.  In  the  afternoon  my  cousins  Thomas 
and  Martha  Lucy  Pease  came.  I  was  pleased  with  their 
simple  friendly  demeanor,  exposed  as  his  position  in  life  has 
been — his  three  sisters  have  left  the  Society  of  Friends.  The 
present  is  a  day  in  strong  contrast  to  the  earlier  days  of  my 
life  ;  during  the  first  forty  years  of  it  such  a  thing  as  a  resigna 
tion  of  membership  was  rarely  heard  of,  not  one  at  Kendal ; 
now  all  the  numerous  families  ofCrewdson  have  left,  several 
Braithwaites,  four  Whitwells  and  several  Wilsons. 

Wed.,  Nov.  5. — Now  that  there  are  prospects  of  great  ad 
vantage  from  the  discovery  of  iron  ore  in  the  Cleveland  range  of 
hills,  I  feel  a  great  anxiety  that  none  of  my  beloved  family 
may  be  caught  in  its  enticings ;  they  have  quite  enough  of  this 
world's  engagements.  .  .  .  Whether  it  succeed  or  dis 
appoint,  its  consequences  are  to  be  dreaded. 

*  Henry  Barclay  and  Joseph  Whitwell  Pease  were  bosom  friends 
and  companions  in  hunting,  shooting  and  coursing. 


300  EDWARD  PEASE.  1851 

Fri.,  Nov.  7. — This  morning  I  learn  with  surprise  that 
Edmund  Backhouse  has  sold  Polam  to  William  and  Robert 
Thompson.  How  great,  how  rapid  the  change.  So  recently 
was  the  mansion  the  very  gratifying  residence  of  his  beloved 
mother  who,  with  her  husband,  had  great  pleasure  in  building 
it  and  enjoyed  its  great  accommodations  and  extensive  grounds 
— sic  transit  gloria  mundi  ! 

Wed.,  Nov.  12. — On  considering  the  Excellency  of  the 
Advices  in  our  Book  of  Discipline  first  page,  that  the  faith  of 
Friends  is  so  correctly  set  forth  in  the  first  paragraph,  and  how 
valuable  the  counsel  is  and  the  tenderness  and  affectionate 
spirit  in  which  each  part  of  the  advice  is  couched,  I  have 
ordered  500  to  be  printed,  believing  that  not  only  to  our  mem 
bers  but  to  others  .  .  .  they  may  not  be  void  of  some 
use.  .  .  . 

Sat.,  Nov.  15. — I  see  in  the  paper  a  Notice  for  a  railway 
near  Guisboro'  ;  the  prompting  cause  is  the  abounding  of 
Ironstone  in  that  vicinity.  This  prospective  scheme  introduces 
my  mind  into  many  doubts  and  fears  as  to  the  inviting  of  my 
family. 

There  is  early  snow  this  year  ;  he  mentions  Joseph 
and  Emma  not  being  able  to  get  to  Castleton  on  the 
i8th  November  without  "  much  difficulty  from  the 
depth  of  the  snow  drifts."  He  is  tried  much  by  Joseph 
talking  so  much  about  "  Coke,  coal,  ironstone,  Forth 
Street  concern,  Guisborough  Railway,  etc,"  and  wishes 
his  "  mind  would  seek  for  rest  and  refuge  "  elsewhere. 
In  a  review  of  his  own  past  life,  he  acquits  himself 
of  ever  having  been  anxious  in  pursuit  of  money,  and 
having  never  thought  of  being  more  than  thoughtful  of 
necessary  provision  for  my  numerous  family,  and  after 
considering  his  many  frailties,  he  adds  : 

It  has  been  much  the  constant  thought  of  my  mind  to  keep 
an  ear  open  to  the  voice  of  heavenly  instruction  in  the  impor 
tant  engagements  of  my  life,  and  since  in  mercy  it  pleased  God 


Act.  84  END  OF  THE  YEAR.  301 

to  take  my  greatest  earthly  blessing  to  Himself,  with  a  more 
dedicated  heart  I  have  sought  Him. 

Sat.,  Dec.  27. — Received  the  account  of  my  dear  brother 
Coates'  having  finished  his  (recently  afflicting)  pilgrimage  about 
one  o'clock  this  morning.  .  .  , 

On  Tuesday,  30th,  he  goes  to  Smelt  House 
to  the  funeral  with  his  daughter-in-law,  Emma, 
and  records  the  next  day  that  the  year  "  goes  out  with 
much  mildness  and  beauty  from  the  clearness  of  the 
atmosphere,"  and  takes  a  more  cheerful  survey  of 
his  behaviour  and  progress  during  it  than  is  usual. 


[The  Diary  for  the  year  1852  is  Missing.] 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

1853- 

EDWARD  PEASE  begins  the  year  with  great  anxiety 
about  his  daughter  Rachel,  and  the  farewell  on  the 
6th  of  January  when  he  leaves  Bristol  is  felt  by  them 
both  to  be  the  last,  and  is  accomplished  in  "  tenderness 
and  tears."  He  goes  on  to  Walden. 

Fri.,  Jan.  14. — The  state  of  this  part  of  the  country  differs 
very  greatly  from  ours,  the  wages  of  a  labouring  man  not  more 
than  one  half  of  what  we  pay.  The  population  in  the  Walden 
Union  is  about  18,000 ;  in  the  Darlington  one  it  is  much  the 
same.  The  number  in  the  Union  house  here  is  300  ;  with  us  at 
Darlington  about  60. 

Wed.,  Jan.  19. — Almost  every  night  I  have  between  the 
hours  of  three  and  five  a  considerably  waking  time,  a  time  I 
enjoy,  because  it  is  nearly  always  accompanied  by  a  sweet 
sense  of  gratitude  and  thankfulness  for  the  blessings  showered 
upon  me,  and  there  is  oft  a  sense  that  time  to  me  may  be 
very  short  and  an  anxious  desire  that  when  the  solemn  hour 
comes  all  things  may  be  ready  !  my  peace  made  with  my 
gracious  forgiving  God,  and  that  there  may  be  nothing  to  do 
but  die. 

Wed.,  Feb.  23. — I  am  without  any  direct  tidings  from  Bris 
tol  this  morning.  Since  the  above  was  written  I  have  by  my 
dear  John  learnt,  and  by  a  few  lines  from  beloved  Elizabeth,  that 
my  precious  Rachel  entered  into  rest  with  her  Lord  at  quarter 


Aet.  86  DEATH  OF  RACHEL  FRY.  303 

past  two  yesterday  afternoon.  In  that  which  is  gone  there 
is  very  much  to  lament  ;  fine  in  person,  in  talent,  in  character 
and  demeanour,  filling  her  station  in  life  with  great  religious 
propriety,  a  blessing  to  her  husband  and  many  ! 

Each  day  this  week  he  refers  to  his  loss,  his  son-in- 
law's  bereavement,  and  to  his  daughter  lying  dead  at 
Gotham  Lawn,  and  to  the  funeral,  which  other  members 
of  the  family  attend.  He  tries  to  rejoice  over  the 
life  and  death  of  his  precious  first-born  daughter, 
"  but  my  stony  heart  is  not  so  touched  with  tenderness 
as  to  be  able  to  rejoice.  My  peace  is  a  small  rivulet, 
not  a  mighty  stream." 

Wed.,  Mar.  9. — The  accounts  of  the  Forth  Street  works 
were  received  and  made  it  appear  that  I  may  be  benefited 
by  the  last  year's  work  £2,000,  after  giving  to  R. 
Stephenson  and  W.  Hutchinson  the  profit  which  I  cannot 
touch  as  a  profit  resulting  from  making  some  war  steamers' 
engines  for  the  King  of  Sardinia.  The  profit  in  1852  appears 
to  be  £17,000. 

The  next  day  he  goes  to  West  Lodge.  "  The  two 
or  three  past  days  there  has  been  bride-visiting  going 
on  "  (David  and  Anne  Dale)  and  he  "  rather  fears  that 
unless  care  be  taken,"  there  may  be  "  departure  from 
stability. ' '  Here  is  an  account  of  a  visit  to  him  by  Friends 
in  the  course  of  their  religious  visits  to  families  : — 

Wed.,  Mar.  23. — Cheered  a  little  in  feeling  the  sweet 
spring  of  Gospel  love,  never  at  my  command,  rise  into  nearness 
of  love  and  fellowship  with  my  beloved  friends  and  cousins,* 
R.  Priestman,  Eliza  Barclay  and  E.  Backhouse,  jun.,  while 
sitting  with  me.  .  .  .  Cousin  R.  P.  addressed  me  in  the 
first  verses  of  fourteenth  of  John,  with  a  little  consoling 
addition.  E.  Barclay  was  in  the  same  strain,  "  Light  at  even 

*  The  Priestmans  were  connected  through  the  families  of  Back 
house,  Robson  and  Richardson. 


304  EDWARD  PEASE.  1853 

and  to  continue  through  the  dark  valley."  E.  Backhouse's 
were  words  of  encouragement.  O  Lord,  render  me  worthy 
of  their  hope  and  their  Love. 

Another  visit  soon  after  is  paid  him  by  two  Ameri 
can  Friends,  Eli  and  Sybil  Jones  ;  the  latter  offered 

words  of  consolation  to  my  often  doubting  spirit,  and  she 
spoke  of  my  approach  to  that  City  whose  walls  were  salvation 
and  whose  gates  are  praise,  with  a  measure  of  confidence  to 
which  my  heart  was  raised  to  trust. 

Mow.,  April  27. — My  dear  Cousin  Thomas  Richardson  de 
parted  this  life  at  Redcar  at  five  o'clock  this  morning  in  the 
eighty-second  year  of  his  age.  He  was  a  man  of  great  in 
tegrity,  having  in  his  business  life  large  transactions.  He  had 
a  kind,  amiable,  generous  disposition,  largely  manifested  in 
founding  the  Agricultural  School  at  Ay  ton,  and  encouraging 
education  among  Friends  and  others.  His  end  was  peaceful 
and  his  dispositions  of  love  and  peace  increased  with  age. 

On  the  4th  of  May  he  visits  his  grand-daughter, 
Mrs.  Albert  Leatham,  and  takes  his  son-in-law,  R.  Fry, 
to  Middlesbrough,  that 

he  might  see  the  great  preparations  going  on  at  Middlesbro' 
and  to  the  cause  of  it,  the  number  of  furnaces  building  for 
operations  when  the  silent  grave  shall  be  the  home  of  this 
tabernacle.  Interested  as  I  am  in  progress  and  improvement 
I  have  no  desire  that  life  should  be  prolonged  to  see  accom 
plishments. 

On  the  i6th  May  he  goes  to  Newcastle 

to  arrange  about  Thomas  Richardson's  share  in  R. 
Stephenson's.  We  were  most  pleasantly  met  by  R.  S., 
who  appeared  to  have  a  very  sincere  satisfaction  in  having 
his  (T.  R's.)  share  transferred  into  Joseph's  name,  so  after  my 
decease  my  three  dear  Sons  will  stand  possessed  of  two-fifths 
of  that  concern.  .  .  . 


Act.  86       ELIZABETH  PEASE  OF  FEETHAMS.        305 

On  the  3ist  May  he  enters  his  eighty-seventh 
year,  and  goes  as  usual  to  Ayton  School  Committee. 
The  following  is  curious  : — 

Wed.,  June  I. — I  sometimes  fear  something  like  a  feverish 
philanthropic  delirium  may  be  becoming  wastefully  prevalent 
over  that  life  which  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God.  Societies 
for  promotion  of  peace,  for  the  use  only  of  free  grown 
cotton,  etc.  An  Olive  Society,  Ocean  penny  postage,  Anti- 
Slavery  action,  carried  to  great  extent  in  the  attentions  to 
Harriet  Beecher  Stow,  author  of  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  and 
total  abstinence  meetings,  absorb  many  and  drink  up,  I 
fear,  the  life  of  God. 

Wed.,  June  8. — Considerable  disappointment  evinced  by 
many  that  the  bill  for  a  Railway  from  this  town  to  Barnard 
Castle  was  thrown  out.  ...  It  may  be  that  the  defeat 
may  result  in  something  yet  more  advantageous.  .  .  . 

Fri.,  June  10. — This  evening  of  life  to  me  is  one  of  serenity 
enjoyment,  blessing  and  peace  ;  health  is  largely  granted.  . 

Mon.,  June  13. — Great  disappointment  at  Barnard  Castle 
by  the  loss  of  the  Railway  Bill,  in  a  public  meeting  called  to 
return  thanks  to  dear  Joseph. 

Sat.,  July  2. — In  looking  at  the  useful  objects  which  claim 
the  attention  of  my  dear  Sons — the  growth  and  prosperity 
of  Middlesbro',  that  increase  of  the  use  of  Ironstone  im 
portant  to  my  Son  Joseph,  the  completion  of  the  Guisbro' 
Railway,  the  prosperity  of  the  S.  and  D.  Railway,  the  erection 
of  a  bridge  over  the  Were,  the  same  or  filling  in  Hounds  Gill, 
a  Railway  to  Barnard  Castle,  all  quite  interesting  to  my  mind 
to  see  accomplished,  yet  to  be  detained  here  below  to  see  any 
of  these  effected  is  far  from  my  desire  or  wish. 

He  over  and  over  again  objects  to  his  niece  Eliza 
beth  Pease's  engagement  to  Professor  Dr.  Nicol, 
of  Glasgow,  and  apparently  the  match  has  the  dis 
approval  of  all  her  family  ;  he  at  one  time  thinks  he 
has  succeeded  in  getting  her  to  break  it  off,  but  at 

22 


306  EDWARD  PEASE.  1853 

last  he  records  with  great  misgivings,  and  after  some 
pretty  severe  remarks  about  the  "  designing  "  man : 

Wed.,  July  6. — My  niece  Elizabeth  Pease  married  at  the 
Independent  Chapel  at  this  place  to  Dr.  Nicol,  of  Glasgow, 
an  union  very  much  advised  against  and  disapproved  by  all 
her  friends. 

This  lady  was  a  very  attractive  personality  and 
is  the  subject  of  a  biography  in  the  "  Saintly  Lives  " 
Series. 

Sat. ,  A  ug.  20. — The  general  plenty  amongst  nearly  all  classes 
and  the  want  of  labourers  so  great  a  most  remarkable  unsettle- 
ment  prevails — the  rate  of  wages  is  enormously  advanced  and 
unsettlement  caused  by  ever  wanting  more — turning  out  and 
refusing  to  work  at  the  Collieries,  although  my  Son  Joseph 
says  they  can  earn  is.  per  hour.  Something  may  soon  be 
looked  to  to  change  this  novel  and  remarkable  state  of  things, 
which  emigration  may  have  caused. 

He  constantly  refers  to  outbreaks  of  cholera 
at  this  time.  One  day  he  says  102  died  at  Newcastle 
and  twenty  at  Gateshead.  Later  he  records  a  total 
of  2,000  deaths  in  Newcastle  from  this  cause. 

Sat.,  Sept.  24. — John  and  Joseph  left  home  to  attend  London 
and  York  Quarterly  Meeting  in  order  to  have  a  Friend  appointed 
by  each  of  these  meetings  and  one  by  Durham  Quarterly 
Meeting  to  distribute  a  legacy  of  £400  per  annum,  left  by 
cousin  T.  Richardson. 

This  is  rather  quaint,  written  at  Harrogate,  7th 
October  : 

.  .  .  Thoughts  very  serious,  most  tender,  affectionate 
thoughts  arise  respecting  my  dearly  beloved  Joseph,  with 
earnest  desires  that  the  cumbering  cares  of  this  life  may  not 
cover  him  as  with  thick  Clay  and  so  convert  into  an  earthen 
pitcher  that  which  was  intended  for  a  vessel  of  honour  and  of 
fine  Gold. 


Aet.  86  JOHN  WILBUR.  307 

In  the  middle  of  October  he  finds 

a  unity  in  the  concern  of  John  Dodshon  to  visit  the  families 
of  Friends  in  Middlesbro',  Stockton  and  Osmotherley, 

and  after  much  self-examination  and  prayer  to  be 
"  kept  in  a  weighty  frame  of  spirit,"  he  sets  forth  on 
this  very  arduous  work,  and  appears  to  visit  about  ten 
families  a  day. 

Sat.,  Oct.  29. — Stockton. — Heard  this  day  of  the  sudden 
death  of  Robert  Barclay,  ofLeyton,  an  upright  man,  a  Friend, 
but  not  in  language,  etc.,  closely  adhering  to  our  testimonies.* 
Visited  nine  families  this  day. 

Mon.,  Nov.  5. — Anxious  about  my  dear  Grandson,  J.  W.  P., 
in  having  heard  of  a  gunpowder  accident  to  him,  which  had  in 
some  degree  injured  his  eyes.  The  price  of  wheat  is  now  95. 
a  bushel ;  was  los. 

Wed.,  Nov.  9. — Great  unsettlement  prevails  among  the 
colliers,  at  present  they  have  ceased  working  at  Adelaides  and 
Pease's  West ;  a  similar  unsettlement  exists  in  the  cotton 
manufacturing  districts  and  much  distress  from  their  remain 
ing  out  of  work.  In  many  undertakings  as  in  Iron  there  seems 
a  bloated  prosperity,  and  so  it  is  in  the  wages  of  the  operatives, 
they  have  more  than  their  scale  of  morality  can  bear — a 
change  may  soon  come  ? 

On  the  nth  November  he  notes  that  "  This  day  the 
Middlesbro'  and  Guisbro'  line  of  Railway  was  opened 
for  mineral  traffic." 

Wed.,  Nov.  16. — Friends  in  some  parts  of  the  vicinity  of 
London  are  tried  by  the  intrusion  of  John  Wilbur f  and  his 

*  Vide  Footnote,  p.  207. 

f  John  Wilbur  (born  1774,  died  1856),  the  founder  of  a  sect  of 
Quakers  in  America,  after  he  was  disowned  by  the  orthodox  Quakers 
for  the  part  he  took  against  Joseph  John  Gurney,  whom  he  declared 
to  be  unsound  on  account  of  his  evangelical  leanings.  The  differences 
between  the  Wilburites  and  the  Gurneyites  were,  I  think,  chiefly 
that  whereas  the  Gurneyites  favoured  regular  religious  instruction, 


308  EDWARD  PEASE.  1853 

ministry.  It  must  be  the  disguised  transformation  of  Satan 
which  induces  this  man,  disowned  by  the  Yearly  Meeting  to 
which  he  belonged,  to  come  into  this  country  and  interrupt 
the  Peace  of  our  Society. 

Sat.,  Nov.  19. — The  character  of  this  part  of  the  county 
and  the  opposite  shore  (Middlesbrough)  is  likely  to  change; 
this  day  Joseph  sold  eight  acres  of  land  there  for  furnaces 
and  Robert  Allan  sold  fifty  near  Hill  House  for  the  same 
purpose. 

This  month  he  gives  in  an  entry  his  reasons  why 
he  leaves  under  his  will  more  property  to  Joseph 
than  to  his  eldest  and  youngest  sons.  Because  Joseph 
has  done  most  work,  I  gather  is  one  motive,  but  the 
main  one  is  that  Joseph  has  the  much  larger  family 
and  he  desires  that  his 

grandchildren  of  this  place,  if  it  be  so  permitted,  may  be  a  little 
nearer  equal  in  possessions  through  dear  Joseph's  sons  and 
daughters. 

He  again  enters  on  the  duty  of  visiting  the  families 
of  Friends,  and  accomplishes  the  visits  to  sixty-three 
persons  in  about  a  fortnight  at  Darlington,  and  the  day 
after  finishing  this  task,  he  goes  to  meeting  and 
records  : — 

A  silent  meeting.  An  unconquerable  tendency  to  drowsiness 
was  my  besetment.  I  strove  against  it.  This  infirmity  of  the 
flesh,  probably  in  some  degree  the  effect  of  old  age,  I  trust  will 
not  by  Him  Whom  my  Soul  Loves  and  desires  reverently  to 
acknowledge  in  all  my  ways,  be  laid  to  my  charge  as  Sin. 


the  Wilburites  held  that  religious  instruction  should  be  only  given 
as  prompted  by  the  Spirit  at  the  time,  and  that  set  teaching  was  done 
"in  the  will  of  the  creature."  They  held  that  the  individual  does  not 
know  that  he  is  saved,  and  they  maintained  that  Gurney  laid  too  much 
stress  on  the  Bible  and  outward  knowledge  of  the  temporal  history 
and  facts  of  Christ's  life  on  earth. 


Act.  86  DEATH  OF  ALFRED  PEASE.  309 

Tues,,  Dec.  20. — Went  with  my  three  sons  and  Richard 
Fry  to  Pease's  West  Colliery.  John  Brown,  A.  Jobson,  Samuel 
Hare  and  Joseph  Sparks  also.  *  Considerations  about  building 
a  school  house  and  lodging  house  for  forty  to  sixty  young 
men  and  the  erection  of  forty  cottages  were  paid  attention  to 
at  these  very  extensive  Coal  mines  with  upwards  of  700  Coke 
Ovens.  Dined  at  Smelt  House. 

Wed.,  Dec.  21. —  .  .  .  Invited  to  the  Procters  [three 
sisters  who  kept  the  Friends'  Boarding  School  for  Girls  at 
Polam]  this  evening  to  see  what  was  called  a  Christmas  Tree. 
I  did  not  feel  inclined  to  go ;  about  seventy  were 
present.  .  .  . 

Wed.,  Dec.  28. — After  a  very  stormy  night  and  considerable 
fall  of  snow  left  Cleveland  Lawn  about  nine  ;  the  road  was 
rather  difficult  and  the  drifts  deep,  in  no  places  cut,  but  was 
favoured  to  be  at  my  comforting  abode  about  noon.  Among 
the  dear  friends  at  Ayton  the  perplexity  and  vexation  which 
defamation  and  detraction  produces  were  by  some  keenly  felt ; 
so  far  as  able  I  kindly  counselled  to  pour  Oil  on  the  Wave. 

In  his  summary  for  the  year,  after  alluding  to  his 
daughter  Rachel's  death,  he  adds  : 

and  one  darling  grandchild  of  rich  talent  and  promise,  dear 
Alfred,  f  has  also  been  taken  to  his  heavenly  mansion  ;  the  hour 
is  approaching  in  which  it  is  my  prayer,  our  circle,  so  affection 
ate,  so  lovely  to  me,  so  mutually  loving,  may  meet  around  the 
throne  of  God. 


*  Of  this  party  Mr.  Alfred  Jobson  still  survives  in  1907  and  is  a 
Director  of  Pease  and  Partners,  Ltd. 

•J-  Alfred  Pease  died  of  scarlet  fever  in  1852,  aet.  n. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

1854- 

Fri.,  Jan.  6. — Very  cold  frost  with  extraordinary  deep 
snow  in  the  southern  parts  of  the  country.  I  fear  many  of  the 
poor  in  London  are  perishing  for  want  of  coals.  The  price  has 
recently  been  403.  per  ton,  and  some  report  them  as  now  6os. 

Mon.,  Jan.  9. — The  price  of  grain  continues  to  advance 
and 'tis  becoming  very  serious  to  the  poor.  The  price  is  about 
eleven  shillings  per  bushel.  Except  for  masons  and  agricul 
turists,  wages  are  as  equal  and  employment  plentiful.  A 
subscription  much  too  small  is  entered  into  and  soup  and  coals 
are  provided  for  the  aged  and  infirm  and  those  of  limited 
parish  allowance. 

He  continues  his  visits  to  Friends'  families  ;  as 
usual,  he  names  them  and  counts  the  adult  individuals 
he  visits  ;  this  month  his  total  reaches  100. 

On  Thursday,  igth,  he  mentions  that  his  son  Henry, 

yielding  to  the  desire  of  the  Meeting  for  Sufferings  goes  along 
with  Robert  Charlton  and  Joseph  Sturge,  with  a  memorial  to 
the  Emperor  of  Russia,  I  suppose  imploring  him  to  put  a  stop 
to  the  effusion  of  blood  and  human  misery  now  affectingly 
carried  on  with  the  Turks. 

Sat.,  Jan.  21. — Seeing  that  it  hath  pleased  the  Lord  to 
place  me  from  my  extreme  age,  my  Son  John  from  his  favoured 
gift,  my  Son  Joseph  from  having  been  in  Parliament,  my  Son 
Henry  as  going  to  the  Emperor  of  Russia  in  conspicuous 
positions,  my  Soul  longs  that  I  and  my  descendants  may  be 

310 


Act.  87    HENRY  PEASE  AT  ST.  PETERSBURG.        311 

preserved  in  great  humility  and  watchfulness,  that  the  Lord 
may  condescend  to  order  all  our  steps  and  that  we  dishonour 
not  His  name. 

Tues.,  Jan.  24. — At  Ayton  .  .  .  On  arrival  at  home 
found  a  letter  from  beloved  Henry  there  with  A.  Mundhenck, 
at  Dusseldorf,  expecting  to  be  at  Berlin  last  evening.  A 
gentleman  from  Warsaw  doubts  their  being  allowed  to  enter 
Russia.  If  all  fail,  hope  they  may  have  peace  in  having  done 
what  they  could. 

Wed.,  Jan.  25. — When  I  consider  my  sons  and  daughters, 
my  dear  John  and  his  Sophia  with  their  two  daughters,  my 
dear  Joseph  and  his  Emma,  their  seven  sons  and  four  daughters, 
my  dear  Francis  and  Elizabeth,  their  son  and  daughter ; 
my  dear  Henry  and  his  son,  words  cannot  convey  the  thankful 
gratitude  1  feel.  .  .  .  The  helpers  of  my  infirmities, 
the  strengtheners  of  my  faith,  my  support,  my  counsellors 
and  comforters. 

Thurs.,  Feb.  2. — This  late,  this  long  evening  of  life  may 
through  Divine  mercy  be  said  to  have  a  gently  descending 
slope  and  much  of  a  peaceful  quiet  thankful  mind  in  the  midst 
of  innumerable  blessings  given  me. 

Fri.,  Feb.  10. — Having  long  been  uncomfortable  in  ob 
serving  the  persons,  mostly  females,  who  bring  poultry,  butter 
and  eggs  to  market,  standing  exposed  to  storms  and  rain 
without  cover,  I  have  caused  one  to  be  attached  to  the  north 
end  of  the  Town  House.  It  may  cost  me  £100  to  £130.  If  it 
be  found  to  be  a  protection  and  add  to  their  comfort,  this 
little  appropriation  of  a  part  of  my  blessings  is  well. 

On  the  I2th  February  he  hears  of  the  safe  arrival 
of  Henry  and  his  companions  at  "  Petersburgh." 
He  is  very  anxious  about  his  grandson,  John  Henry 
Pease,  now  aged  eighteen,  who  is  ill.  On  the  2ist 
he  mourns  the  death  of  "dear  and  most  valuable  Wm. 
Forster,"  in  Tennessee. 


312  EDWARD  PEASE.  1854 

Mon.,  Feb.  20. — Concluded  to  purchase  for  schools  some 
premises  in  Skinnergate  for  £1,600,  expecting  Friends  will 
liberally  contribute  to  fit  them  up  for  First-day  and  other 
schools. 

Wed.,  Feb.  22. — Grateful  in  heart  for  a  good  account 
of  my  beloved  Henry  from  Petersburgh.  The  object  of  their 
visit,  through  divine  favour,  has  been  fulfilled  in  presenting 
to  the  Emperor  the  address.  Their  reception  was  courteous, 
the  resulting  effects  of  it  rests  with  Him  Who  rules  in  the  hearts 
of  the  children  of  men.  May  He  bless  this  endeavour  to  do 
what  we  can  to  promote  peace  and  Good-will. 

Fri.,  Feb.  24. — The  public  paper  The  Times*  exceedingly 
derides  and  ridicules  the  Society  of  Friends  for  sending  the 
deputation  to  Russia.  So  far  as  yet  appears,  we  have  cause 
for  thankfulness;  the  kindness  of  its  reception  by  the  Emperor 
has  been  quite  remarkable.  His  offer  to  make  them  presents 
was  declined  that  no  venality  might  be  ascribed  to  them. 
His  sending  one  of  his  messengers  to  help  and  haste  them  on 
the  way  was  striking.  .  .  . 

Mon.,  Feb.  27. — An  interesting  evening  at  East  Mount, 
the  Southend  ones  present,  and  we  heard  with  gratified 
pleasure  dear  Henry  recite  the  varied  Russian  and  other 
experiences  in  his  travels.  ...  I  planted  the  new  part 
of  the  burying  ground  on  three  sides  with  Box  and  Holly  trees. 
Beautiful  weather. 

Wed.,  Mar.  I. — The  address  to  the  Emperor  of  Russia 
which  the  three  friends  presented,  now  generally  appears  in 
the  periodicals.  It  is  couched  in  respectful  and  beautiful 
language,  expressed  with  much  feeling,  and  is  said  to  have 
moved  the  Emperor  to  tears  of  tenderness.  I  trust  the  whole 
matter  in  every  part  has  been  conducted  as  becomes  the 
Society  of  Friends. 

*  A  cartoon  representing  the  Quakers  as  a  braying  ass  standing 
in  front  of  the  muzzle  of  a  cannon,  and  articles  making  fun  of  their 
mission  and  efforts  for  peace,  may  be  seen  in  Punch. 


Aet.  87 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  WAR. 


313 


Sat.,  Mar.  4. — .  .  .  The  prospects  of  war  increasing 
and  mighty  preparations  making.  Madness  and  folly,  to  be 
rewarded  by  disappointments;  disasters  and  frustrated 
counsels,  I  think  will  some  day  be  manifest.  Tens  of 
thousands  of  soldiers,  sailors  and  militia  to  be  raised  to 
demoralise  this  country  and  impoverish  it.  May  Heaven 
forbid  it  All. 

Tues.,  Mar.  7. — Opposition  is  raised  in  Parliament 
against  an  improved  Reform  Bill,  and  parties  we  had 
deemed  to  be  Liberal  appear  against  it,  Lord  H.  Vane,  etc. 
My  belief  is  that  from  the  encreasing  intelligence  of  the  people 
various  improvments  in  the  legislature  and  constitution  of  the 
kingdom  will  take  place  and  an  advance  in  gospel  principles 
will  be  more  operative  and  practical. 

Sat.,  Mar.  n. — This  forenoon  in  part  occupied  by  dear 
John  and  myself  conferring  with  Cousin  J.  R.  [Richardson], 
on  some  little  painful,  petty,  defaming,  detracting  differences 
which  had  got  in  amongst  a  few  of  the  families  of  Friends 
there  [Ayton].  I  trust  a  little  of  the  softening  influence  of 
persuasive  love  may  have  some  effect,  but  nature  and  grace 
are  opposites  and  quite  different.  The  last  seeketh  not  its 
own,  the  first  seeketh  its  own  and  more ;  one  suffereth  long 
and  is  kind,  the  other  is  cold  and  contemptuous.  .  .  . 

Wed.,  Mar.  15. — .  .  .  My  Grandson  J.  W.  P.  just 
returned  from  a  visit  to  his  chosen  friend.  My  nephew, 
John  Beaumont  Pease,  writes  me  from  Stamford  Hill  a  poor 
sinking  account  of  his  uncle,  my  valued  friend  William 
Beaumont.  .  .  . 

He  watches  his  garden  and  fruit  trees  with  the 
same  pleasure  as  of  old,  and  on  the  22nd  March  he 
notes  "  the  walls  begin  to  look  white  with  apricot 
and  plumb  blossom/'  and  other  such  things.  He 
records  this  month  the  journey  of  his  son,  John  and 
S.,  to  Allonby,  to  dismantle 

my    late    Cousin    Thos.    Richardson's    dwelling  house.      A 
long  life  sees  the  desolating  of  many  habitations 


314  EDWARD  PEASE.  1854 

The  kindest  hospitality  has  been  experienced  under  this  roof. 
.  .  .  All  must  now  be  left  desolate  and  bare.  May  its 
owner  through  mercy  rest  in  blessedness  and  peace  where 
no  change  nor  any  cares  can  come. 

Wed.,  Mar.  29. — I  hear  that  War  with  Russia  is  declared! 
Very  affecting  it  is  to  think  of  the  misery  that  is  in  store  for 
thousands Surely  Nations,  Rulers  and  legis 
latures,  have  much  to  be  accountable  for,  and  neither  those 
in  power  nor  those  out  of  power  can  form  an  idea  what  the 
calamity  will  produce  or  when  it  will  end.  .  .  . 

Wed.,  April  5. — An  unsettled  day  in  receiving  calls,  setting 
off  my  visitors  at  several  different  times,  and  providing  refresh 
ments — it  entirely  accords  with  my  disposition  .  .  . 
to  extend  to  my  beloved  friends  a  full  measure  of  kindness  and 
hospitality,  and  should  it  not  be  permitted  that  I  live  to 
repeat  similar  attentions,  I  may  record  that  I  have  comfort 
in  having  hitherto  done  what  I  could 

Tues.,  April  n. — I  have  added  a  note  to  the  memoranda 
for  the  executors  of  my  Will,  proposing  they  shall  endow 
the  almshouses  my  dear  and  honoured  mother  built 
for  four  widows,  that  a  Sum  be  invested  which  shall  yield 
43.  weekly  to  the  said  widows.  This  settlement  seems  entirely 
due  from  me,  etc.  .  .  . 

He  continues  his  visitations  of  Friends'  families, 
and  totals  over  140. 

Tues.,  April  18. — This  morning  received  the  intelligence 
of  dear  John  Henry  [Pease]  having  departed  this  life  about 
2  o'clock  yesterday,  at  Clifton;  his  end  was  peaceful,  and 
with  a  blessed  hope,  as  would  appear  from  answers  to  questions. 

.  .  .  This  is  our  Monthly  Meeting  day  at  Staindrop. 
I  was  most  easy  to  stay  at  home  with  Charles  and  Francis 
Richard  [John  Henry's  brothers]  who  are  now  my  inmates. 
Jos.  Whit  well  •  and  Edward  [two  more  brothers]  will  join  us 
at  dinner. 


Act.  87  LONDON  AND  BIRMINGHAM.  315 

The  next  evening  he  calls  on 

Joseph  and  Emma,  just  returned  from  Clifton,  bringing 
lifeless  John  Henry  with  them,  another  interesting  and 
lovely  branch  reft  from  the  parent  Stock. 

Sun.,  April  23. — The  interment  .  .  .  of  my  dear  Grand 
son  John  Henry  took  place  at  half  past  ten.  The  attendance 
was  very  numerous.  The  meeting  was  a  very  quiet  and 
I  trust  instructive  one.  .  .  .  My  dear  John  ministered. 
In  the  evening  about  seventy  friends,  relations,  and  the  young 
men  of  John  Henry's  acquaintance  assembled,  and  the  even 
ing  seriously  and  becomingly  spent. 

Thursday,  4th,  he  travels  to  London  with  Joseph 
and  Emma  and  his  own  servant,  "  Charles  "  : — 

Our  train,  thirty  or  more  carriages  with  two  locomotives, 
travelled  the  240  miles  without  one  minute's  delay  from  an 
accident,  so  marvellously  complete  is  mechanical  power  and 
arrangement. 

Fri.,  May  5. — Attended  the  Meeting  for  Sufferings.  .  .  . 
Eli  and  Sybil  Jones  recounted  their  labours,  dangers,  and 
exercises  in  Norway,  Germany,  and  long  detentions  in  Switzer 
land  and  the  South  of  France,  where  they  met  with  marvellous 
openness  among  the  people.  A  company  of  serious  soldiers 
who  held  religious  meetings  were  much  attracted  to  these 
dear  friends,  and  also  the  Clergy,  eleven  of  whom  assembled 
to  confer  with  them,  etc.  Jos.  Forster  gave  up  the  Certificate 
granted  to  his  brother  [William,  deceased]. 

The  next  day  he  travels  to  Birmingham  to  attend 
the  funeral  of  his  "  dear  Cousin  Rachel  Lloyd/' 
and  on  the  day  of  the  funeral,  the  yth,  he  remarks 
on  the  large  number  present  ;  100  relatives  assemble 
in  the  evening.  "  It  was,"  says  he,  "  an  opportunity  for 
Robert  Howard  to  give  some  dry  repetitions  and  allusions 
to  the  exemplary  virtues  (acknowledged  by  all)  of 
the  beloved  deceased."  He  then  journeys  to  London, 


316  EDWARD  PEASE.  1854 

stays  at  Tottenham  with  Josiah  Forster,  and  on  the 
loth  goes  to  Walden,  till  the  i8th,  and  so  home  in 
good  health. 

Tues.,  May  23. — Showery,  fine  weather,  bearing  the 
promise  of  a  fruitful  year.  Grain  has  been  advancing  in  price 
from  the  devastation  of  foreign  exporting  ports,  and  the 
wicked  waste  of  a  wicked  and  cruel  war. 

On  the  3ist  he  enters  his  eighty-eighth  year. 

An  important  interesting  day  of  many  considerations, 
retrospective,  present,  and  prospective.  Surely  a  life  so 
prolonged  ought  to  have  yielded  more  fruit.  .  .  . 

He  gets  very  anxious  about  his  grandson. 

Dear  J.  W.  P.  thin  and  not  quite  so  well.  Sometimes  my 
fears  are  quickened  respecting  him  in  the  thought  that  he  has 
never  looked  so  well  since  a  violent  fall  in  the  stable  yard 
at  Edmund  Backhouse's,  at  Middleton  (Lodge). 

On  the  7th  June  : — 

Very  thougthful  in  the  night  about  my  beloved  Grand 
son,  Jos.  W.  Pease,  seeing  him  look  so  thin  and  delicate 
yesterday.  Should  it  be  in  the  Counsel  of  the  Omnipotent 
Will  that  he  should  be  taken,  (but  O,  that  it  may  not  be  so) 
what  a  dissolution  of  flattering  prospects  as  to  this  world,  to 
himself  and  all  his  family  and  to  me  during  my  remaining 
short  life  !  .  .  .  .  Some  feelings  in  my  heart,  perhaps 
nervous,  have  awakened  seriousness. 

Wed.,  June  14. — This  evening  was  passed  at  William  C. 
Parker's,  with  other  thirty-six  or  thirty-eight  Friends,  paying 
a  bride's  visit  to  him  and  his  Bride  Margaret.  Very  striking 
is  the  difference  in  the  outset  in  life  amongst  Friends  in  contrast 
with  that  simplicity  which  then  was  felt  to  be  needful  and 
consistent,  it  now  seems  as  if  consistency  with  our  religious 
principles  but  very  little  bounded  the  newly  married — the 
care  is  to  have  plenty  of  litter,  decorative  beauty  and  niceties. 


Aet.  87 


UPLEATHAM  MINES. 


317 


Fri.,  June  23. — My  dear  Joseph  and  Emma  got  home  this 
forenoon.  I  am  comforted  in  seeing  them  look  so  well  after 
the  toil  and  tugging  arising  from  having  to  defend  the  Bills 
in  Parliament,  which  he  and  his  associates  did  successfully  : — 

The  Barnard  Castle  Railway. 

The  S.  &  D.  Junction  from  St.  Helens  to  the  Tunnel. 

And  the  Tees  Conservancy. 

He  finds  that,  as  always  is  the  case,  the  endeavours 
to  serve  friends  needs  the  sacrifice  of  time  and  trouble, 
and  the  "  constant  engagement  with  visitors  and 
Friends  deprives  of  time  for  mental  introversion," 
and  adds 

You  must  both  time  and  money  spend 

To  lay  an  obligation  on  a  friend. 

Wed.,  July  12. — Purposing  to  go  to  Cleveland  Lodge, 
Ayton,  to  attend  my  cousin  Caroline  Richardson's  marriage 
to-moro.  I  wish  the  union  may  be  a  happy  one,  the  prospect 
is  not  the  very  brightest.  The  consideration  pressing  on  my 
mind  is  that  I  may  be  preserved  in  that  watchfulness  by  a 
sense  of  the  indwelling  presence  of  the  spirit  of  my  Saviour, 
that  in  word  and  deed  I  may  minister  to  those  present  a  good, 
becoming  example. 

Tues.,  July  18.— .  ...  At  Middlesbro'.  ...  In  the 
afternoon  at  Albert  Leatham's.  After  dinner  the  Company  was 
much  interested  in  seeing  the  long  descending  column  of  a 
Waterspout,  which  damaged  some  houses  near  Eston. 

He  records  on  the  igth  the  death  at  Waterford 
of  his  "  beloved  cousin,  Rachel  Priestman,"  with 
a  eulogy  of  her  character  as  a  wife,  mother  and  minister. 
He  stays  at  Marske  a  good  deal,  and  visits  Ayton  this 
month. 

Sat.,  June  22. — Marske.  To  the  Ironstone  diggings, 
with  upwards  of  twenty  sons,  daughters,  grandchildren  and 
servants.  The  day  was  beautiful,  the  elevated  mountain 
scenery  very  interesting,  the  toil  of  cart  travelling  over 


318  EDWARD  PEASE.  1854 

rough  or  constructed  roads  rather  fatiguing,  but  the  enjoy 
ment  outweighed.  The  digging  for  ore  and  removal  of  the 
superincumbent  soil  also  beyond  expectation.  Large  profits 
probable,  but  not  equal  to  expectations,  it  is  apprehended 
will  arise. 

He  goes  to  the  funeral  at  Newcastle  of  Rachel 
Priestman,  lodging  at  Bemsell  House,  the  burial  at 
Jesmond,  and  100  Friends  to  tea. 

Fri.,  Aug.  4. — A  very  full  town  on  account  of  a  floral  and 
agricultural  Show ;  the  former  of  these,  in  my  apprehension, 
has  an  excess  of  vanity  and  expenditure  in  it,  which  I  doubt 
a  most  tender  conscience,  feeling  to  the  full  the  distresses  and 
wants  of  the  poor,  could  not  allow  themselves  to  indulge  in. 
I  condemn  no  man,  but  happy  is  the  man  of  tender  conscience 
that  does  not  condemn  him  in  the  thing  that  he  allows. 

The  following  are  the  sort  of  items  still  sprinkled 
over  the  pages  : 

Aug.  7. — Observed  with  grateful  Joy  a  fine  field  of  very 
fine  thick  standing  wheat,  looking  as  if  the  sickle  might  soon 
enter  it. 

Aug.  9. — To-moro  my  Bees  go  to  the  Moors  as  annually. 

Aug.  IT. — Observed  a  field  of  Barley  cut  near  Marske, 
the  first  one  this  season. 

The  i gth  of  August  finds  him  in  Scotland  after 
sundry  visits. 

Sat.,  Aug.  19. — Aberdeen.  Reached  this  place  this  even 
ing  in  time  to  attend  the  meeting  for  ministers  and  elders; 
present,  Anthony  Wigham,  Lydia  Barclay,  etc. 

He  sticks  to  his  duty  in  Scotland,  and  thereby  gives 
up  the  pleasure  of  being  at  his  eldest  grandson, 
Joseph  Whitwell  Pease's,  wedding.  On  Saturday, 
26th  August,  he  says  : 


Aet.  87    MARRIAGE  OF  HIS  ELDEST  GRANDSON.    319 

In  some  respects  it  has  been  an  important  week  to  my 
precious  family.  Dear  Joseph  W.  Pease's  marriage  with  Mary 
Fox.  My  mind  often  visited  them,  their  beloved  parents  and 
the  family ;  my  desire  and  trust  is  that  this  union  has  the  Divine 
sanction,  and  will  be  blest. 

Fri.,  Sept.  i. — Purchased  a  house  on  Cleveland  Terrace 
(£4°°)  "that  I  might  accommodate  Ann  Elizabeth  Dale. 
Went  to  Stapleton  to  see  Christopher  Johnson,  reduced,  weak 

and  feeble The  season  continues  most  beautiful, 

near  Cleasby,  several  stacks  of  wheat.  The  Cholera  yet  con 
tinues  in  Middlesbro'.  My  Son  and  daughter  Gibson  and 
daughter  left  me  for  Balder  Grange. 

Wed.,  Sept.  13. — When  I  ask  myself  what  is  my  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  to  me,  I  say  my  Hope  of  Salvation  through  His 
offices  and  all  sufficiency. 

My  Atonement.  My  Bishop. 

My  Mediator.  My  Shepherd. 

My  Intercessor.  My  Sacrifice. 

My  Advocate.  My  Judge. 

My  High  Priest.  My  King. 

What  more  could  I  desire,  what  more  can  I  require  in  order 
to  obtain  the  bliss  of  eternal  life.  .  .  . 

Fri.,  Sept.  15. — .  .  .  .  The  day  of  the  flower-show, 
a  matter  in  which  I  take  no  further  interest  than  to  encourage 
the  Cottagers  to  cultivate  Gardens  for  useful  vegetables, 
or  to  keep  Bees.  .  .  .  Mine  is  permitted  for  years  past  to 
be  a  calm,  peaceful  descent  to  a  similar  narrow  cell  where  my 
dearest  is  laid,  after,  may  my  God  grant  my  spirit  be  where 
hers  is.  ... 

He  addresses  a  note  to  Joseph,  "  bearing  upon  the 
additions  and  adorning  of  Southend,"  and  "  its  effects 
on  his  own  mind  and  on  his  dear  descendants,"  and 
adds  : 

In  endeavouring  to  keep  another's  vineyard,  may  my 
vigilance  be  ever  on  the  stretch  to  keep  my  own. 


320  EDWARD  PEASE.  1854 

Wed.,  Oct.  4. — Early  part  of  the  day  much  occupied  with 
callers  whom  I  had  not  seen  before.  .  .  .  The  after  part 
of  the  day  it  was  my  grateful  employ  to  have  to  celebrate 
my  Lov'd  Grandson  J.  W.  P.'s  marriage  by  a  bride's  visit. 

A  day  of  rejoicing  to  many,  and  of  mourning,  I  hope, 
to  many  on  account  of  the  intelligence  of  the  taking  of 
Sebastopol.  The  carnage  and  consequent  misery  deplorable  ; 
probably  more  than  20,000  killed  and  wounded,  Russians  and 
allies 

Sat.,  Oct.  7. — .  .  .  .  Accounts  are  received  of  a 
most  alarming  destruction  by  a  conflagration  having  taken 
place  at  Gateshead  and  Newcastle  by  the  explosion  of  several 
tons  of  Gunpowder,  Brimstone,  etc.,  very  many  houses  burnt 
down,  the  glass  in  hundreds  of  houses  broken,  many  lives  lost, 
and  the  infirmary  rilled  with  those  who  are  injured.  [He 
sends  £20  for  the  relief  of  sufferers.]  Dalias  all  killed  by  frost. 

Tues.,  Oct.  10. — The  accounts  from  the  seat  of  war  are  of 
dreadful  slaughter  of  English,  French  and  Russians  near 
Sebastopol,  and  the  aqueducts  to  that  city  being  cut  off 
I  fear  an  intense  and  wasting  misery  to  the  innocent  and  all 
inhabitants  is  bitterly  felt.  Oh,  for  the  Reign  of  the  Prince  of 
Peace. 

Wed.,  Oct.  ii.— My  dear  Grandson  (J.  W.  P.),  his 
bride  and  cousin  E.  Howard,  paid  me  their  first  visit,  I  deem 
it  a  favour.  I  desired,  if  right,  that  I  might  live  to  see  this 
happy  union  solemnised,  and  my  heart  is  grateful  therefor. 
Our  company  was  about  twenty-two,  and  a  very  pleasant  easy 
agreeable  evening  we  spent  together,  such  as  was  without 
much  of  condemnation,  and  I  trust  not  in  more  cheerfulness 
than  was  consistent  with  the  joyous  occasion. 

Fri.,  Oct.  13. — Received  an  account  of  the  loss  of  the 
Arctic,  on  board  of  which  were  upwards  of  300  persons, 
only  about  fifty  saved.  On  board  this  vessel,  an  American 
steamer,  was  my  dear  friend  Mahlon  Day,  his  wife  and 
daughter,  so  recently,  so  very  agreeably  with  me.  His 
loss  will  be  lamented  and  keenly  felt  by  the  Friends  of  New 


Act.  87    S.  SMILES  AND  ROBERT  STEPHENSON.    321 

York,  of  which  meeting  he  was  a  truly  valuable  member.     A 
mournful  calamity  permitted  by  Infinite  Goodness. 

Thurs.,  Oct.  19. — On  this  day  in  the  year  1833  (twenty-one 
years  ago)  the  most  precious  gift  of  my  heavenly  Father 
as  my  chief  comfort,  delight  and  treasure,  was  taken  from  me. 
Inexpressibly  dear  to  me  is  her  memory,  and  now  from  heaven 
it  seems  her  call  was  to  me  "  cherish  my  memory,  follow 
me  as  I  endeavoured  to  follow  Christ,  and  as  thou  hast  wit 
nessed,  in  dedication  and  devotion." 

Fri.,  Oct.  20. — S.  Smiles  was  with  me  to  obtain  particulars 
for  a  memoir  of  the  life  of  George  Stephenson.  It  appears  to 
me  that  Railways  will  be  a  favour  to  the  world,  and  I  do  not 
regret,  but  far  otherwise,  that  my  time,  care  and  attention 
was  so  closely  occupied  for  many  months.  Except  with  the 
help  of  a  faithful  secretary,  R.  Oxley,  the  care  and  charge 
of  providing  all  materials  and  all  the  costs  for  the  waymen's 
wages  rested  on  me.  If  I  have  been  in  any  way  made  a  humble 
instrument  of  use  in  the  creation,  all  the  praise,  and  I  render 
it,  is  due  to  my  God. 

Sat.,  Oct.  21. — A  tendering  sweet  feeling  of  being  united 
to  my  precious  ones  gone  before  into  the  Realm  of  Joy  and 
peace,  my  treasures  already  there.  The  blessing  of  my 
existence,  my  precious  wife,  my  daughter  Mary,  my  son  Isaac, 
my  son  Edward,  my  daughter  Rachel.  Sweet,  affectionate, 
obedient,  loving,  pious  children. 

Mon.,  Oct.  23. — My  friend,  Robert  Stephenson  the  engineer, 
to  spend  two  or  three  days  with  me — a  man  of  most  highly 
gifted  and  talented  power  of  mind,  of  benevolent,  liberal, 
kindly,  just,  generous  dispositions,  in  company  most  interest 
ing.  My  dear  Sons  John  and  Henry  dined  with  me.  At  tea 
at  my  son  Joseph's,  a  considerable  and  interesting  company. 
At  home  to  sup,  and  after  it  some  social  interesting  subject 
occupied  us  to  near  eleven. 

Tues.,  Oct.  24. — At  breakfast  with  dear  Henry;  present, 
Robert  Stephenson,  John  Dixon,  T.  McNay,  F.  Mewburn, 
David  Dale,  Beaumont  Pease,  J.  Pryor  Hack,  and  Thomas 
Booch.  After  breakfast,  Robert  Stephenson  and  four  more 

23 


322  EDWARD  PEASE.  1854 

went  up  the  S.  &  D.  line  as  far  as  Hounds  Gill,  and  enjoyed 
their  day.  The  evening  pleasantly  spent  nearly  alone, 
expressing  to  Robert  Stephenson  my  anxious  desire  that 
smoking  and  taking  wine  might  be  carefully  limited.  Free, 
open  converse.  Oh  my  soul,  be  upon  the  watch.  .  .  . 

Thurs.,  Oct.  26. — Robert  Stephenson,  after  a  pleasant  social 
visit,  left  me  this  morning.  .  .  . 

Fri.,  Oct.  27. — .  ...  In  the  evening  I  had  the 
company  of  the  three  sisters  Procter  and  twenty  of  their  pupils. 
To  entertain  them  and  see  them  in  pleasant  health  and  spirits 
is  very  grateful  to  my  mind.  A  present  of  a  book  was  made 
to  each  Girl. 

Mon.,  Nov.  6. — Affecting  account  of  misery  in  Sebastopol, 
and  devastation  in  the  bombarded  City ;  the  cruel  want  of 
water,  the  misery  and  wretched  state  of  the  English  soldiers 
by  the  want,  it  may  be  said,  of  efforts  to  make  existence 
anything  but  one  of  great  privation  and  distress,  and  among 
my  countrymen  added  to  their  misery  great  numbers 
slaughtered  and  far  more  suffering  by  wounds.  When 
shall  horrors  cease  ?  May  the  Highest  hasten  the  day. 

Fri.,  Nov.  17. — Wrote  to  E.  P.  Gurney.  Is  the  sword,  so 
destructive  in  this  sad  war,  to  devour  for  ever  ?  Surely  in  the 
favoured  but  lowly  and  despised  Society  of  Friends  that  day 
which  is  foretold  of  bending  the  sword  into  a  ploughshare  has 
dawned.  Oh,  that  the  accomplishment  of  this  prophecy 
might  soon  be  fulfilled,  that  the  earth  might  enjoy  its  Sabbath. 

Sat.,  Nov.  18. — .  .  .  Accounts  of  great  slaughter 
among  the  troops  in  the  Crimea ;  very  many  of  the  finest  men 
in  the  English  army,  the  Guards. 

Mon.,  Nov.  20. — There  is  at  this  time  great  exertions 
making  in  every  part  of  the  kingdom  to  raise  a  very  large 
sum  called  a  Patriotic  Fund,  for  the  widows  and  orphans  of 
those  who  may  be  slain  in  battle  or  die  of  disease  in  the 
Crimea  or  elsewhere.  In  this  movement  Friends  feel  they 
can  take  no  share  or  mix  themselves  in  anything  connected 


Act.  87  THE  CRIMEA.  323 

with  war,  yet  if  poor  sufferers  come  under  their  notice  the 
law  of  kindness  must  be  fulfilled. 

Thurs.,  Nov.  23. — The  Essay  meeting  held  at  my  house 
this  evening  was  a  very  pleasantly  interesting  one,  sixty- 
five  were  present.  This  Fair-day  (cold  and  snowy)  was  very 
thinly  attended,  once  a  very  busy  one,  seems  now  to  be 
wearing  out,  while  the  fortnightly  fairs  have  very  much 
increased. 

Mow.,  Nov.  27. — Gratitude  clothes  my  mind  when  I  think 
of  my  blessing  and  privilege  of  being  a  member  of  the  Society, 
and  that  all  my  dear  descendants  are  members.  To  us 
and  our  beloved  Society  is  the  enjoyment  of  that  great  serenity, 
peace,  and  comfort  we  are  all  so  graciously  permitted  to 
enjoy.  None  of  that  suffering  death  and  dying  so  prevalent 
in  the  Crimea,  none  of  the  bemoaning  of  parents  over  their 
wounded  sons,  no  sorrow  or  wailing  of  our  widows,  no 
crying  of  our  Orphans. 

Wed.,  Nov.  29. — The  £500  we  [Robert  Stephenson  &  Co.] 
have  given  for  the  establishment  of  schools  at  Newcastle  on  the 
broadest  and  most  tolerant  religious  principles,  seems  to  me 
will  be  got  hold  of  by  the  never  satisfied  grasp  of  the  Church 
of  England, — doomed  some  day,  I  do  believe,  to  melt  away, 
it  may  be  by  political  strife  ;  but  a  day  of  more  light  and  truth 
will  follow. 

Wed.,  Dec.  13. — Accounts  from  that  scene  of  bloody 
warfare  are  on  every  ground  discouraging  and  very  affecting. 
Suffering  and  slaughter  very  great.  Parliament  met  yesterday, 
and  I  am  sorry  to  observe,  however  angrily  anyone  may 
speak  of  the  neglect  of  many  essential  things,  a  warlike  spirit 
prevails  in  the  nation.  Oh  my  soul,  be  mindful  and  careful 
about  thy  own  business. 

Mow.,  Dec.  25. — This  day  having  a  Popish  designation, 
Christ's  Mass,  may  well  be  thankfully  remembered  by  the 
pious  Christian,  if  it  is  the  day  on  which  the  Saviour  of  men 
was  ushered  into  the  world  gladdening  good  old  Simeon 


324  EDWARD  PEASE.  1854 

and  every  one  in  measure  who  rightly  thinks  of  this  great 
event — but  to  what  an  extent  this  day  is  spent  in  riotous 
banqueting  and  forgetfulness  ! 

The  following  day  he  entertains  all  his  descen 
dants  about  Darlington  and  others,  "  twenty-one  in 
all."  On  the  3oth  December,  he  records,  "  The  first 
Iron  drawn  from  the  two  newly  erected  Furnaces." 
This  was  the  birth  of  the  great  Cleveland  iron  trade. 

Considering  his  soul's  progress  during  the  year, 
he  puts  certain  queries  to  himself,  and  in  "  great 
reverence  and  humility,"  can  say  that  he  trusts  he 
is  nearer  "  in  preparation  and  fitness  "  for  his  change. 

The  love  of  my  Lord  and  the  more  constant  sense  of  His 
presence  and  overshadowing  abiding  with  me,  being  more 
preciously  as  well  as  more  generally  felt,  with  supplication  for 
complete  purity  and  sanctification. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


FROM  now  till  the  end  of  1857  the  writing  gets 
gradually  more  shaky,  but  it  is  in  this  year  easily  read. 
His  religious  entries  breathe  more  hope.  He  watches 
agriculture  and  Nature  with  the  same  keen  interest, 
struggles  to  keep  awake  in  meeting,  and  as  of  old,  to 
keep  down  his  naturally  too  cheerful  disposition,  re 
members  his  lost  wife,  and  travels  to  visit  relations, 
Friends,  meetings,  and  regularly  to  Ayton  to  look  after 
the  Agricultural  School.  He  notes  the  signs  of  his  old 
age,  "  some  feeling  of  trembling  in  walking,"  and  "  a 
tendency  to  stagger  in  stepping." 

Tues.,  Jan.  9.  —  Cheering  tidings  of  peace  being  near  are 
currently  believed. 

He  refers  in  January  to  the  pleasure  of  his  visits  to 
Woodlands,  to  see  his  grandson  "  J.  W.  P.  and  his 
Mary,"  and  throughout  the  year  continues  a  habit  of 
spending  every  "  seventh-day  evening  "  with  his 
r<  beloved  descendants  "  at  Southend.*  With  his  usual 
hospitality  his  house  seems  to  be  generally  full  of 
visitors.  In  regard  to  one  party  of  relations  from  a 
distance  who  settled  down  on  him  he  makes  the  only 

*  The  day  I  was  writing  this  I  had  a  visit  from  his  great-grand 
daughter,  Mrs.  Theobald  Butler  (nee  R.  M.  Leatham),  and  she,  in  answer 
to  a  question  of  mine  as  to  how  much  she  could  remember  of  Edward 
Pease,  said  she  had  a  very  distinct  recollection  of  him,  and  especially 
of  going  to  Southend  always  on  Saturday  evenings,  and  of  being  given 
gingerbreads  and  Pomfret  cakes  (a  liquorice  sweetmeat)  by  him,  and 
taken  on  his  knee. 

325 


326  EDWARD  PEASE.  1855 

remark  that  betrays  that  he  ever  is  tried  by  the  con 
tinual  arrivals  and  departures  of  his  guests,  and  it  is 
rather  a  good  one  : 

While  I  feel  thankful  for  being  enabled  to  exercise  a 
kind  hospitality  to  my  friends  and  relatives,  yet  the  social 
comfort  varies  greatly  between  those  who  come  to  partake 
and  share  the  enjoyment  of  pure  friendship  and  those  who 
come  solely  for  their  own  convenience,  it  is  a  difference  between 
a  sacrifice  that  costs  something  and  enjoyment. 

On  the  I7th  he  says  there  are  no  more  tidings  of 
the  approach  of  the  blessing  of  peace,  but  thinks 
apparently  the  fall  in  the  price  of  wheat  6s.  per  quarter 
in  London,  a  good  sign  and  "  a  cheering  change  for 
the  poor." 

Wed.,  Jan.  31. — Great  political  changes  anticipated  by 
Lord  John  Russell's  resignation.  Ministry  outvoted  by  257 
majority.  To  me  it  appears  gloom  is  continually  spreading 
over  the  prospects  of  this  kingdom,  and  it  maybe  in  the  counsel 
of  Infinite  Wisdom  that  ere  the  troubles  of  Europe  and  this 
wicked  war  cease,  that  the  great  parent  of  all  who  once 
said,  "  I  will  overturn — I  will  overturn,"  may  execute  the 
like  sentence  on  this  and  other  lands. 

Tues.,  Feb.  6. — Received  an  account  of  the  death  of  my 
cousin  William  Aldam,  the  only  surviving  descendant  of  my 
uncle  Thomas  Pease.  W.  A.'s  character  as  a  very  honourable 
merchant  and  man  stood  high,  with  good  dispositions  and 
kindness  without  a  (?  very)  tender  conscientious  attachment 
to  the  principles  of  Friends,  it  may  be  said  he  walked  with 
them.  .  .  . 

He  is  glad  that  it  was  in  the  hearts  of  his  dear  Sons 
"  to  give  half-a-ton  of  coal  to  innumerable  poor 
widows  and  families"  this  month.  He  refers  at  times 
to  the  war,  but  sees  "  little  abatement  in  the  sad 
infatuated  spirit  which  has  so  lamentably  prevailed," 
and  remarks  that  "  confusion  seems  to  stand  at  the 


Act.  88  THE  PUBLIC  FAST.  327 

door  of  all  War  proceedings  abroad,  and  in  all  legis 
lative  proceedings  at  home.  The  last  four  weeks  has 
seen  Lord  Aberdeen's  ministry  quite  overturned ; 
Lord  Palmerston  formed  a  new  one,  it  soon  dis 
located  itself  and  again  for  a  week  or  two  we  were 
without  a  Government." 

Sat.,  Feb.  24. — Lord  J.  Russell  gone  to  Vienna  to  endeavor 
to  make  peace.  May  he  be  able  to  effect  a  measure 
which  seems  fraught  with  so  many  blessings  to  this  greatly 
misguided  country.  John  Bright,  with  a  temperate  manly 
boldness,  expresses  his  earnest  sentiments  on  the  war  and 
all  the  measures  of  Government.  It  appears  to  me  he  is 
teaching  Parliament  and  men  in  power  more  correctly  to 
act,  to  think,  and  to  speak,  and  that  there  is  truth  of  great 
utility  generally  in  his  declarations. 

He  alludes  on  the  5th  March  to  the  death  of  the 
Emperor  of  Russia,  and  hopes  peace  may  be  among 
the  changes  caused  by  the  event. 

Wed.,  Mar.  4. — Went  with  dear  John  to  call  on  Henry 
Pascoe  Smith,  at  Hall  Garth,  a  worthy  magistrate,  and  very 
useful  in  this  vicinity.  H.  P.  Smith  is  a  man  of  buoyant  spirits 
and  uncommonly  facetious,  with  good  sense.  Apprehending  a 
day  of  solemn  consideration  through  divine  mercy  might  yet 
be  his,  in  a  few  words  I  adverted  to  it,  and  gave  him  J.  J. 
Gurney's  valuable  work  on  Love  to  God.  Do  I  sufficiently 
Love  God  ? 

Sat.,  Mar.  17. — At  Southend  this  evening,  the  Dean  of 
Ripon  present,  a  learned  liberal  Priest.  .  .  . 

Wed.,  Mar.  21. — This  a  day  appointed  by  Government 
for  a  general  fast,  and  it  may  well  be  a  day  of  humiliation 
for  all  who,  by  their  maladministration,  added  inexpressible 
cruelties  and  sufferings  to  all  the  dreadful  cruelties  of  war. 
[Allusion  to  the  shameful  conduct  of  the  authorities  in  their 
neglect  of  providing  necessaries  and  clothes  to  the  troops 
during  this  terrible  winter.]  There  is  a  general  natural  con 
tempt  and  dislike  to  the  fast,  which  gives  me  some  hope 
this  Popish  proceeding  may  not  be  resorted  to.  ... 


328  EDWARD  PEASE.  1855 

Fri.,  Mar.  23. — Government  having  ordered  that  no 
interments  shall  take  place  in  our  burying  ground  nearer 
than  twenty  feet  of  the  Meeting-house,  or  any  other  dwelling 
house,  I  have  planted  Lauristinus,  Box,  and  Chinese  Arbor- 
Vitae  near  the  Meeting-house,  and  a  yew  hedge  across  the 
burying-ground  at  the  west  end  of  the  Meeting-house. 

He  feels  much  a  visit  from  his  son-in-law,  "  Richard 
Fry  and  his  niece  Sally,"  who  come  to  spend  three 
weeks ;  the  former  arrives  for  the  first  time  without  his 
wife,  and  awakes  memories  of  "  our  enjoyment  of  the 
past."  He  is  anxious  about  his  "  fine  minded,  valuable 
nephew,  Thomas  Whit  well,"  who  is  ill  with  scarlet 
fever.  He  approves  of  the  zeal  in  subscribing  to  the 
"  Famishing  in  Scotland."  He  refers  to  Miss  Fry 
as  "  Sally,  a  pleasant,  dear,  lively,  interesting  girl," 
and  takes  her  a  drive  on  Friday,  6th  April,  which 
day,  he  adds,  is  "  in  the  town  an  idle  day,  being  one 
of  those  popish  mass  days  called  Good  Friday."  The 
next  day  he  takes  her  to  "  spend  the  day  "  with  his 
"  grandchildren,  C.  Albert  and  Rachel,  and  my  three 
great-grandchildren  "  [Leathams,  of  Gunnergate, 
Middlesbrough].  He  is  interested  in  Henry's  "  one 
first  step  towards  obtaining  a  companion  for  life  ; 
the  choice  has  my  appro vance,  and  is,  I  think,  judi 
cious,"  the  only  element  to  render  it  in  any  way 
"  dubious,  is  disparity  of  years." 

This  disparity  of  years  has  been  a  great  gain  to 
my  generation  and  all  Edward  Pease's  descendants. 
As  I  write  his  choice  still  survives  amongst  us,  a  link 
between  the  old  order  and  the  new,  and  combining 
the  best  in  both. 

Mow.,  April.  1 6 — Beautiful  mild  weather,  heavenly  good 
ness  allows  all  around  me  that  is  visible  to  smile.  But,  oh 
for  this  poor  sinful  kingdom,  while  destruction  and  horrid 
slaughter  is  going  on  by  the  fierce  bombardment  of  Sebastopol, 
by  the  English  and  French,  the  Sovereigns  of  both  are  now 


Aet.  88 


THE  WAR. 


329 


revelling  in  the  waste  and  splendor  of  our  national  resources 
in  London.  Surely  the  Most  High  will  be  avenged  if  such 
doings  and  such  a  Nation  as  this,  etc. 

Wed.,  April.  18 — Watchman,  what  of  the  night  ?  Eternal 
day  must  be  near  at  hand,  art  thou  prepared  for  the  brightness 
of  its  arising  ?  Having  watched  for  its  dawning  with  more 
frequent  constancy,  than  the  opening  morning,  may  my  feeble 
efforts  to  be  ready,  to  love  and  serve  my  Lord,  find  acceptance. 

Thurs.,  April,  19 — At  Ayton  to  attend  the  interment  of 
worthy  Hannah  White,  the  once  faithful  nurse  of  my  beloved 
Mother  and  Sister  Mary  until  the  close  of  their  days.  She 
was  two  years  younger  than  myself*  .... 

Amongst  his  references  to  the  War  : — 

All  yet  seems  dark ;  it  may  be  that  this  transgressing  king 
dom  may  have  to  feel  that  which  is  reported  regarding  Russia, 
the  revolt  of  the  Serfs  against  the  Nobles.  .  .  The  Emperor 
of  the  French  has  had  two  pistol  shots  aimed  at  him. 

He  goes  to  Hartlepool  early  in  June  to  see  Cuthbert 
Wigham,  "  a  sweet  character,"  and  on  to  Seaton 
"  to  see  my  Meeting-house  and  little  property  there/' 
He  is  "  thoughtful  "  about  "  his  son  Joseph's  name 
being  brought  before  the  meeting  as  suitable  for  the 
station  of  an  elder/'  and  very  much  as  he  loves  him, 
and  much  as  he  is  satisfied  that  there  is  "  some  religious 
mindedness  and  that  there  is  a  useful  discerning  spirit 
in  him,"  he  feels  he  could  not  have  proposed  such  a 
thing,  for  "  there  is  about  his  dwelling  some  approach 
to  an  outward  greatness,"  and  in  his  life  "  a  largeness 
of  engagement  not  consistent  with  the  simplicity 
of  the  Gospel."  On  the  8th  of  June,  with  the  ex 
pression  of  doubt  from  J.  C.  B.,  and  perhaps  one  or 
two  more,  the  sense  of  the  meeting  was  in  his  favour. 

*  His  mother  Mary  Pease,  nte  Richardson,  b.  1736,  d.  1821.  His 
sister  Mary  Pease,  b.  1764,  d.  1820  umarried. 


330  EDWARD  PEASE.  1855 

He  notes  on  the  25th  May  the  birth  of  an  eldest  child, 
a  daughter,  to  "  dear  Mary  J.  W.  Pease."* 

On  the  3ist  May  he  completes  the  eighty-eighth 
and  enters  the  eighty-ninth  year  of  his  "  pilgrimage 
in  this  vale  of  vicissitudes."  He  describes  his  night's 
thoughts  and  states  :  "  Vocal  prayer  in  a  low  voice 
on  retiring  to  rest  with  my  head  on  the  pillow  has 
at  times  comforted  me." 

On  June  25th,  "  My  Grandson,  Edward,  at  age 
yesterday."  In  July  he  goes  to  Ackworth,  and  has 
his  grandson  for  his  companion.  He  makes  this  month 
his  "  annual  balance  '"  of  his  accounts,  and  from  the 
advance  in  value  of  railway  shares,  discovers  "  a 
large  increase  of  his  property,"  and  prays  he  may 
dispose  of  it 

in  useful  gifts  and  almsgiving,  for  all  my  Lord  gives,  it  is  yet  His 
own,  and  oh  that  He  may  condescend  to  instruct  in  all  respects 
in  its  use. 

Sat.,  July  21. — For  the  last  week  or  two  I  have  found 
my  walking  powers  diminish  so  that  to  walk  hence  round  the 
orchard  requires  two  or  three  rests,  but  how  gently  and  kindly 
my  Heavenly  Father  deals  with  me  in  leading  me  through 
life.  .  .  . 

In  August  he  has  "  beloved  E.  P.  Gurney  (J.  J. 
Gurney's  widow),  with  her  niece,  Harriet  Kirkbridef 
"as  his  inmates."  He  notes  at  the  beginning  of  the 
month  that 

For  weeks  past  rain  has  fallen  that  I  do  not  remember 
equally  destructive  hay  weather — in  many  places  it  has  been 
gathered  to  the  dunghill  instead  of  the  Stack. 

*  This  child  was  Emma  Josephine,  who  married  Vincent  Waldo 
Calmady-Hamlyn,  of  Leawood  and  Paschoe,  and  who  died  in  1888, 
leaving  an  only  daughter,  Sylvia  Mary  Calmady-Hamlyn. 

f  Afterwards  married  Theodore  Fox,  of  Falmouth,  brother 
to  his  grandson  Joseph  W.  Pease's  wife,  Mary,  nte  Fox. 


Act.  88  BRITISH  MERCENARIES  IN  THE  CRIMEA.  331 

On  Friday,  loth  August,  he  goes  to  Newcastle, 
and  has  an  "  agreeable  meeting "  with  "  Robert 
Stephenson  respecting  admitting  W.  Weelans  into 
partnership  in  the  Forth  Street  Concern,"  and  stays 
at  "  Cousin  Geo.  Richardson's,  much  to  my  comfort." 
He  stays  at  Marske,  where  Joseph's  seaside  residence, 
Cliff  House,  still  meets  with  some  disapproval : — 

There  is  a  nice  point  distinguishable  by  the  sensitive  mind 
as  to  using  this  world  and  not  abusing  it ;  the  swift  witness 
will  unfold  what  is  right  in  my  beloved  Joseph's  dwelling,  and 
in  all  he  does  my  heart's  earnest  desire  is  that  he  would  consult 
this  witness  and  if  so  I  think  some  fittings  would  be  different. 

This  seems  rather  an  anti-climax  to  us  now-a-days. 
The  day  after  this  entry  he  visits  Hutton  Low  Cross, 
where  his  grandson,  J.  W.  P.,  has  his  shooting,  and 
stays  in  the  autumn. 

Wed.,  Aug.  22. — Accounts  of  great  slaughter  of  the  poor 
Russians  in  the  Crimea,  4,000  or  5,000  !  Surely  the  wickedness 
of  this  country  is  great  in  not  insisting  on  our  Government 
to  make  peace,  but  how  increased  is  the  wickedness  of  this 
kingdom  in  hiring  the  innocent  Swiss,  Germans,  and  Sardinians 
to  fight  in  the  Crimea.  If  national  crimes  are  to  be  repaired 
by  national  punishments,  heavy  is  the  scourge  we  may  receive, 
but  man's  great  transgressions  are  oft  passed  over  by  a  gracious 
God,  whose  mercy  is  greater. 

Sat.,  Aug.  25. — The  poor  manX ,  of ,  who  by 

everyone  is  suspected  of  having  by  slow  degrees  poisoned  his 
wife,  and  who  has  been  repeatedly  examined  by  a  bench  of 

magistrates  has  this  day  been  committed  to  Jail  to 

take  his  trial  on  most  strong  circumstantial  evidence. 

X ,  who  has  been  several  months  in  Gaol, 

.  .  .  .  and  believed  to  be  guilty  by  nearly  every  person, 

returned  home  to  this  evening  amid  hoots  and  hisses, 

proof  having  failed  to  fix  the  poisoning  on  him. 

My  father  told  me  that  one  J.D.,  a  man  he  knew 
who  had  a  dislike  to  this  Mr.  X.,  talking  about  the 


332  EDWARD  PEASE.  1855 

crime  for  which  he  had  been  acquitted,  said,  "  I 
couldn't  resist  the  temptation  one  day  when  I  was 
alone  with  him  after  the  trial  of  speaking  to  him 
about  it."  '  What  did  you  say,"  said  my  father. 
"  Oh,  I  just  said  '  Now,  Mr.  X.,  there  is  a  thing  I'm 
very  curious  to  know,  and  now  you  and  I  are  alone 
together  I  want  you  to  tell  me  something  just  between 
you  and  me.'  He  said,  '  Well,  Mr.  D.,  what  is  it  ?  '  I 
said,  'I  want  to  know  just  to  satisfy  my  own  curiosity 
whether  you  poisoned  your  wife  or  you  did  not.' 
'  Oh,  Mr.  D.,'  he  replied,  '  how  could  you  think  I 
could  do  such  a  thing  ?  I  wouldn't  have  done  the  poor 
woman  any  harm  for  worlds.'  '  Thank  you,  Mr.  X  --  ' 
I  says,  '  that's  all  I  want  to  know,  I  was  curious  to  hear 
the  truth,  because  folks  say  you  did.'  He  was  very 
uneasy  and  uncomfortable  at  this  turn  of  the  con 
versation,  and  soon  got  up  and  left  me." 

Fri.,  Sept.  31.  —  My  son  and  daughter  Gibson  and  theirs, 
come  this  day  from  Balder  Grange.  .  .  An  obvious  and 
striking  improvement  has  taken  place  with  Irish  reapers.  They 
are  not  nearly  so  numerous  as  formerly  and  their  appearance 
wonderfully  changed.  Instead  of  that  great  wretchedness 
and  being  clothed  as  in  a  bundle  of  dirty,  despicable  rags, 
they  are  now  generally  neat  and  clean. 

He  has  his  "  dear  Irish  Friends  Ellen  and  Lydia 
Pike  and  daughters  Louisa  and  Mary,  with  Ann  Bewly 
of  Dublin,"  to  stay  with  him  for  a  week.  At  parting 
"  tears  were  shed  in  the  feeling  that  we  could  not 
expect  to  see  each  other's  faces  any  more."  On  the 
September  : 


The  news  from  Sebastopol  is  a  description  more  horribly 
wicked  and  cruel  than  I  believe  history  has  ever  told  :  the  burn 
ing  of  a  hospital  with  1,000  wounded  soldiers  raving  mad  with 
thirst  and  agony  ! 


Act.  88  A  CHRISTMAS  TREE.  333 

Thurs.,  Oct.  ii. — At  York.  .  .  .  and  present  at  the 
interment  of  a  Friend,  James  King.  His  predecessors  for  two 
generations  known  to  me.  This  burial  was  the  first  in  a  new 
graveyard  neatly  laid  out  not  far  from  the  Retreat.  .  .  . 
The  meeting  was  favoured  with  the  ministry  of  Thomas 
Pumphrey  and  Priscilla  Green.  But  oh,  I  was  so  oppressed 
with  heaviness,  to  me  it  was  a  profitless  time — how  sad  ! 

Fri.,  Oct.  19. — A  beautiful  fine,  mild  day,  after  a  very  severe 
frost  two  or  three  days  ago  which  killed  the  dalias,  etc.  Fruit 
exceedingly  abundant.  Apples,  Pears  and  Plums  very  cheap, 
potatoes  good  and  very  little  disease  but  very  high  priced, 
2s.  gd.  per  bushel.  Wheat  IDS.  6d.  and  Oats  45.  per  bushel. 
Monetary  matters  in  France  and  England  much  convulsed, 
discounts  now  seven  per  cent. 

Among  his  visitors  and  callers  this  month  are 
Josiah  Forster,  "Cousins  J.  and  R.  F."  and  Lord 
Henry  and  Lady  Vane ;  he  talks  with  the  latter  for 
two  hours.  '  She  is  an  agreeable  woman,  and  he  an 
intelligent,  well-informed  man  ;  gave  her  J.  J.  Gurney's 
'Love  to  God/  '  He  has  taken  an  interest  in  a  Poly 
technic  Exhibition,  to  advance  the  funds  of  the 
Mechanics'  Institute,  but  at  the  conclusion  he  cannot 
reflect  on  it  with  unmixed  pleasure,  considering  that 
young  Friends  had  made  the  arrangements,  and  they 
had  "  introduced  singing  and  music,  calculated  to 
give  a  taste  for  such  and  to  destroy  that  mental  peace 
much  sweeter  than  sounds." 

Wed.,  Dec.  26. — Burning  letters  and  papers  that  my  dear 
executors  might  have  less  to  do  when  that  solemn  duty  falls 
upon  them  which  has  occupied  much  of  my  time  and  attention. 
My  hope  is  they  will  find  very  few  of  my  accounts  troublesome 
or  intricate. 

Fri.,  Dec.  28. — At  Southend.  The  evening  spent  less  to 
my  comfort  than  usually,  the  levity  etc.,  of  what  is  termed  a 
Christmas  Tree  was  below  that  which  belongs  to  those  who 
have  attained  to  maturer  years. 


334  EDWARD  PEASE.  1855 

The  review  of  the  year  includes  his  own  "  unin 
terrupted  good  health,"  no  "  distressing  event  " 
among  any  of  his  "  precious  descendants,"  "  enough 
of  prosperity,"  etc.  He  ends  : 

Surely  I  must  be  drawing  near  the  end  of  my  long  life. 
May  He  condescend  to  be  with  me  at  the  most  aweful  hour, 
.     .     .     and  in   mercy,  all  of  mercy,   receive  me  into  his 
Heavenly  Garner. — Amen. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 
1856. 

ON  the  fly-leaf  of  his  diary  is  written,  "  Often 
and  much  alone,  this  book  may  be  called  my  com 
muning  Companion/' 

He  begins  this  year  by  wanting  to  go,  as  usual, 
to  the  Quarterly  Meeting  at  Newcastle,  but  feels  it 
will  be  too  much  for  him,  and  that  "  the  feebleness  of 
my  limbs  and  my  pace  makes  me  too  much  a  care 
to  my  too  affectionate  relatives  and  friends  "  ;  it  is 
a  comfort  to  him  that  "  eighteen  of  my  precious 
family "  go.  He  enjoys  entertaining  his  relations, 
and  spends  one  evening  having  letters  read  to  him, 
"  which  my  dear  departed  mother  wrote,  then  in  her 
eightieth  year."  The  same  day  he  hears  the  "  cheering 
news  "  that  the  basis  of  peace  has  been  agreed  on. 
As  an  example  of  the  deliberation  and  care  taken  in 
little  matters  in  those  days,  I  give  the  following  : 

Fri.,  Jan.  22. — Very  thoughtful  in  hearing  my  dear  son 
Henry  was  contemplating  a  trans- Atlantic  tour,  affectionately 
depending  on  my  conclusion.  May  we  be  assisted  to  deter 
mine  aright. 

Wed.,  Mar.  5. — Burning  a  great  number  of  letters  from 
my  beloved  sons  and  daughters  and  grandchildren.  All  proofs 
of  their  most  comforting  kindness  and  affection  are  strongly 
expressive  of  this  and  many  matters  and  thoughts  of  enduring 
interest. 

335 


336  EDWARD  PEASE.  1856 

He  enjoys  having  thirteen  of  his  grandchildren 
with  him,  and  in  a  beautiful  sort  of  prayer  for  their 
future  ends,  "  May  we  love  Him  to  the  end  :  then 
He  will  love  us  at  the  End." 

Sat.,  Mar.  15. — I  was  brought  very  low  on  hearing  that  an 
association  of  young  Friends  at  Bradford  had  agreed  to  give 
up  the  use  of  simple  and  plain  language.  I  lament  it.  Is 
not  this  a  time  which  we  may  as  of  old  say  the  Tents  of  Cushan 
are  in  affliction.  Is  not  such  a  combination  comparable  in 
disposition  to  those  who  formerly  broke  down  the  carved  work 
of  the  Lord's  house  with  axes  and  hammers. 

He  goes  to  sit  by  his  "  dear  sinking  Anna's  " 
death-bed  ;  it  reminds  him  of  the  days  when  he  sat 
by  the  "  same  bed  when  my  dear  languishing  brother 
[Joseph  Pease,  of  Feethams]  was  laid  thereon."  She 
dies  the  2nd  April.  It  is  curious  to  note  his  pleasure 
in  simple  things  :  he  attends  "  an  interesting  lecture 
on  geology  " 

in  which  was  a  large  display  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth 
and  water  when  all  was  chaos.  Figures  of  huge  animals  of 
the  former  creation,  etc.  .  . 

He  still  watches  his  garden  :  notes  when  the 
first  asparagus  is  cut  (26th  April),  when  the  goose 
berries  set,  when  the  lilacs  come  into  leaf  and  are 
"  showing  for  flower,"  and  when  the  Plum  and  Jargonelle 
trees  are  in  blossom.  He  never  forgets  his  lost  Rachel, 
and  says,  "  If  it  is  permissible  to  enjoy  that  which  is 
not  revealed  and  is  hidden  ;  then  he  may  note  "  the 
sweet,  indescribable  sense  of  endearment  which  visits 
his  spirit  when  he  "  thinks  of  his  precious  one  in  bliss 
and  his  beloved  children,  loved  all  far  beyond  all  words 
can  tell." 

Wed.,  April  30. — At  Southend  with  the  Trustees  of  Thomas 
Richardson's  Legacy  Fund,  dear  Henry  and  Samuel  Gurney 


Act.  89  SAMUEL  GURNEY.  337 

not  present.  It  was  a  pleasure  to  see  the  distribution  of  many 
donations  .  .  .  encouragement  for  pupil  teachers,  Friends  in 
low  circumstances,  for  schools,  and  the  blind  such  as  I  appre 
hend  would  be  approved  had  T.  R.  being  living. 

Sat.,  May  17. — .  .  .  In  looking  to  spend  the  afternoon 
with  my  seven  grandchildren  at  Southend  (their  parents  being 
in  London)  I  compare  myself  to  the  stem  of  an  old  rough 
barked  Oak  quite  staghorny  in  its  branches,  with  a  few  green 
worn  leaves  upon  them,  incapable  of  being  to  them  what  I 
would,  a  gratefully  refreshing  shade. 

Wed.,  May  21. — Swallows  first  noticed  this  Season. 

Fri.,  May  30. — .  .  .  My  health  as  to  all  personal 
feeling  is  perfect.  Stiffness  of  limbs,  limited  powers  of  action 
and  walking  more  completely  confirm  my  old  age  than  any 
other  senses.  Sight  is  imperfect,  taste,  touch  feeling  and  hearing 
unimpaired.  Great  is  the  longing  of  my  soul  to  return  to  my 
gracious  Creator,  thanks  and  praises  due. 

The  next  day  he  notes,  "  This  my  natal  day,  enter 
ing  my  ninetieth  year."  On  Sunday,  8th  of  June, 
he  "  heard  of  the  death  of  dear  Sam.  Gurney,  at  Paris/' 
and  the  next  morning  writes : 

On  reflecting  on  beloved  Sam  Gurney,  I  see  the  man  beyond 
all  others  I  ever  knew,  the  accumulator  of  vast  wealth,  in 
talent  conspicuously  pre-eminent,  kind,  generous,  beloved,  a 
Friend  sound  in  principle,  bound  to  the  Society,  in  candour  and 
counsel  remarkable.  In  the  Meeting  for  Sufferings  I  have 
admired  his  clear  directing  views,  and  also  in  our  Yearly  Meet 
ing  often  dropping  wise,  just,  good  opinions.  His  end  was  in 
blessed  peace. 

On  the  loth  he  goes  with  about  fifty  young  people 
and  others  "to  Hutton  Ironstone  diggings,"  "delighted 
with  the  mountainous  scenery,  and  dining  on  the 
heather  covered  hills  under  a  wall  "  ;  then  to  Cleve 
land  Lodge  and  a  "  bountiful  tea  on  the  Lawn  in  front 
of  the  house,"  and  on  the  I4th  he  adds, 

24 


338  EDWARD  PEASE.  1856 

Joseph  left  home  to  attend  the  burial  of  Sam.  Gurney's 
remains,  and  this  forenoon  the  mourners  (very  sincere  ones 
they  will  be)  may  be  standing  round  the  Grave  of  this  almost 
unequalled  man. 

And  then  contemplating  those  assembled  in  heaven, 
he  desires  to  be  there  too. 

He  circulates  "  2,000  testimonies  "  concerning 
S.  Grellet  to  his  friends.  He  pays  a  visit  to  "  Middle- 
ton  Tyas  with  my  cousins  Edmund  and  Juliet  Back 
house,  and  accompanied  there  by  son  Joseph  and 
Joseph  W.  P.,  his  Mary  and  babe.*  For  a  month  he  lives 
at  Southend,  "  perfect  loving-kindness  from  beginning 
to  the  end." 

Wed.,  July  g. — The  Barnard  Castle  Railway  was  opened 
yesterday ;  it  was  wet. 

On  the  J-7th,  "  Got  up  all  my  hay  in  good  condition. 
Little  of  summer  warmth  has  yet  been  felt,  and  very 
late  are  all  the  products  of  the  earth :"  and  on  the  22nd, 
"  The  first  hot  day  this  season  "  ;  he  spends  it  in 
"  tranquil  delight,"  seated  with  his  grandchildren 
"  on  the  terrace  at  Marske,"  and  adds,  just  like  him 
self,  "  I  fear  my  mind  was  more  at  ease  and  peace 
from  my  nature  rather  than  of  Grace."  On  the  2Qth 
he  dines  with  130  at  the  "  annual  school  meeting  " 
at  Ayton. 

On  the  ist  August,  Friday, 

went  up  the  Barnard  Castle  Rail  Way  with  my  dear  son 
Joseph.  The  day  very  warm  but  no  change  of  colour,  as  of 
approaching  harvest,  yet  perceptible. 

In  the  evenings  of  these  hot  days  he  drives  out 
and  records  the  appearance  of  crops,  and  the  first 
"  harvest  tints  in  the  cornfields."  On  considering 
all  he  has  given  away  to  his  family  and  sons,  he  looks 

*The  babe  Emma  Josephine  Pease,  born  1855. 


Aet.  89  JOHN  FOWLER.  339 

forward  to  being  "  rather  straitened  and  limited  in  my 
annual  income."  He  says  "  I  am  now  much  alone, 
except  when  my  dear  Grandsons  come  in  to  dine," 
all  the  family  being  away  at  Marske  and  Ayton.  It 
is  not  till  the  20th  August  that  he  first  can  record 
corn  cut.  "  Two  fields  of  Barley  cut  near  Gainford; 
the  price  of  grain  rises." 

Fri.,  22. — My  cousin  J.  B.  Braithwaite,  his  Martha,  sister, 
nurse  and  three  children  came,  their  company  pleasant  and 
instructive.  As  Friends  in  consistent  principles  and  demeanour 
truly  exemplary,  it  is  a  comfort  to  see  and  entertain  such 
strangers. 

On  the  2nd  September  he  is  "  informed  that  my 
beloved  Elizabeth  Lucy  was  yielding  to  John  F.  ; 
she  is  a  lovely,  sweet  child."  John  Fowler,  whom  she 
married,  was  the  inventor  of  the  steam  plough  ;  he 
died  from  the  results  of  a  hunting  accident,  when  I 
was  a  small  boy,  and  the  big  weight-carrying  grey 
horse  that  fell  with  him,  was  at  our  stables  after  the 
accident,  at  Hutton.  When  my  Uncle  John  died,  my 
father  ordered  the  horse  to  be  shot,  and  I  went  to  say 
good-bye  to  him  as  he  stood  with  his  head  over  the 
gate  of  a  paddock  before  he  was  executed.  I  can 
remember  my  indignation  at  the  deed,  and  my  thoughts 
as  I  saw  his  limbs  hanging  in  the  kennel  larder,  and 
my  disgust  at  being  told  his  skin  would  fetch  ten 
shillings  or  a  pound.  John  Fowler  left  one  son,  John 
Ernest,  who  died  at  Algiers,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one. 

In  September  he  again  entertains  the 

Braithwaites,  seven  in  number.  .  .  .  He  is  a  most  intelligent 
man,  sound  in  judgment,  with  a  well  stored  mind,  in  valuable  in 
his  position  and  station  as  a  minister  to  his  friends  in  London 
and  elsewhere. 

He  also  enjoys  meeting  "  Sarah  Fox,  of  Falmouth, 
was  a  Hustler,"  and  talking  over  with  her  the  "  by 
gone  days  at  Undercliff." 


340  EDWARD  PEASE.  1856 

Thurs.,  Oct.  2. — A  very  impressive  good  exhortation 
in  sweet  gospel  affection  from  Mary  Waterhouse,  chiefly 
addressed  to  the  young.  Oh,  that  it  might  be  as  a  nail  fixed 
in  a  sure  place.  .  .  . 

Tues.,  Oct.  7. — An  unusually  large  meeting  .  .  .  yet 
a  little  tried  in  mind  by  a  Friend  speaking  on  a  text  in  Proverbs 
often  not  literally  and  practically  true.  Difficult  texts  not 
clearly  explained  should  be  shunned  as  unsatisfactory  and 
disappointing. 

On  Monday,  I3th  October,  he  records  a  beautiful 
day,  and  remembers  the  date  as  always  : 

This  day,  twenty-three  years  ago,  was  the  time  of  my 
great  loss  and  most  heavy  affliction,  when  my  precious  Rachel, 
the  true  partner  of  my  Joys  and  sorrows,  was  taken  away. 
My  counsellor,  my  blessing,  my  helper  heavenward.  Ah, 
there  in  the  fulness  of  Joy  her  spirit  rests. 

The  next  month,  among  his  many  visitors  are 
'  Wilson  and  Mary  Crewdson  and  family." 

It  vividly  revived  their  most  affectionate  kindness  at  that 
sorrowful  time,  now  upwards  of  twenty-two  years  ago,  when 
all  that  was  most  worthily  loved  on  earth  was  taken  from  me, 
expiring  at  their  house  in  Plymouth  Grove,  near  Manchester. 

Fri.,Dec.  12. — Much  converse  about  a  railway  to  Kendal, 
etc.  .  .  .  Henry  at  Ulverstone  respecting  it.  ... 

Mon.,  Dec.  22. — Two  of  the  girls  from  the  Procters' 
Boarding  School,  Mary  Allan  and  — .  Webb,  from  Mullen  are 
with  me  during  the  major  part  of  their  vacation. 

Sat.,  Dec.  7. — At  Southend,  and  the  two  Irish  girls, 
Webb  and  Allan,  now  with  me.  The  Emperor  of  Russia  has 
signified  that  he  designs  to  admit  a  Constitution  to  the  Finns, 
treated  with  so  much  cruelty  by  the  Baltic  fleet.  Friends 
have  ever  been  against  war  and  piracy. 

There  are  other  allusions  to  the  wanton  wickedness, 
etc.,  of  the  Baltic  fleet  earlier  in  the  year. 


Act.  89  REFLECTIONS.  341 

Wed.,  Dec.  31. — .  .  .  .  The  past  year  and  bygone 
years  have  found  me,  especially  since  my  precious  companion 
was  taken  to  heaven,  more  and  more  anxious  to  acquaint 
myself  with  God,  who  in  His  great  mercy  has  condescended 
to  draw  near  to  me,  visited  me  in  His  love  and  granted  me, 
blessed  for  ever  be  His  Holy  name,  a  good  hope  that  through 
the  intercession  and  advocacy  of  His  son,  who  laid  down  His 
life  for  my  complete  redemption,  I  may  be  an  heir  of  Immor 
tality  in  His  kingdom.  I  should  be  short  of  that  gratitude 
which  is  due  to  my  gracious  Creator  if  I  do  not  commemorate 
the  past  year  as  one  of  abounding  mercy  every  way.  The 
blessings  of  a  happy  and  entirely  healthy  existence.  .  .  . 
surrounded  by  descendants  of  three  generations  .... 
all  having  my  prayers  that  they  may  be  more  faithful  and  far 
more  useful  in  their  generation.  .  .  .  What  the  unfoldings 
of  the  coming  year  may  be  is  known  only  to  Him  Who  doeth 
all  things  right  and  well.  M.  89  and  7  months. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

1857- 

AND  now  we  have  got  to  the  last  year  of  the  diaries, 
the  writing  betrays  evidence  of  a  hand  shaking  and 
eyes  dim  with  age.  In  this  volume  is  a  slip  :— 

These  books,  kept  for  a  notice  of  passing  events  and  often 
giving  rise  to  a  self  review  and  seriously  useful  reflections, 
sometimes  personal,  may  at  once  be  destroyed. 

Sat.,  Jan.  17. — A  subject  of  general  converse  and  greatly 
condemned  is  the  Bombardment  of  Canton ;  the  destruction  of 
the  City  and  Forts  is  deemed  a  harsh  and  cruel  revenge  for 
some  misdoing  of  the  Governor.  .  .  . 

He  alludes  with  gratification  to  the  proposed  "rail 
way  across  the  Kingdom  to  unite  this  county  with 
Westmoreland  and  Lancashire,"  but  has  no  desire 
to  live  to  see  this  and  many  other  works  of  utility 
accomplished. 

Sat.,  Feb.  7. — Heard  of  the  decease  of  my  cousin  George 
Stacey  in  the  evening  of  last  5th  day.  Years  have  passed 
over  since  his  powers  of  mind  and  body  were  almost  entirely 
(the  latter  especially)  prostrated.  In  middle  life  he  was  an 
active  and  truly  valuable  member  of  our  Society,  for 
several  years  Clerk  to  London  Yearly  Meeting. 

On  the  27th  February  he  receives  "my  widowed 
cousin  Jane  B.  Fox,  of  Falmouth,  very  sweet  and 
tenderly  affectionate." 

342 


Act.  90  HENRY  PEASE'S  ELECTION.  343 

Wed.,  Mar.  4. — The  news  this  morning  is  very  interesting 
and  acceptable.  The  House  of  Commons  have  condemned 
that  approvance  which  the  Ministry  has  given  to  the  cruel 
bombardment  of  Canton — majority  against  Lord  Palmerston 
sixteen.  In  the  House  of  Lords  the  conduct  of  Sir  John 
Bowring  and  Admiral  Seymour  was  approved,  and  nine  Bishops 
voted  in  favour  of  this  cruelty  and  bloodshed  !  ! 

Sat.,  Mar.  7. — I  find  the  conclusion  of  a  public  town  meet 
ing  is  to  grant  my  earnest  request  that  no  Testimonial 
be  presented  to  me  on  account  of  my  persevering  efforts  to 
perfect  the  first  public  Railway  ever  thought  of.  In  this 
undertaking  I  had  a  good  helper  and  warm  coadjutor  in  my 
cousin  Jonathan  Backhouse,  yet  his  cares  and  attention 
were  much  more  remitting  (sic)  than  mine. 

Mon.,  Mar.  23. — A  day  of  some  trouble  and  anxious  care, 
for  my  beloved  Henry  having  consented  to  offer  himself 
as  a  candidate  for  South  Durham,  has  issued  his  address  and  is 
to  expose  his  political  opinions,  etc.,  etc.,  before  the  assembled 
freeholders  this  evening.  He  has  my  near  and  very  affection 
ate  sympathy  in  this  great  voluntary  trial  he  has  brought 
upon  himself.  I  think  he  will  not  be  disappointed ;  if  he  is, 
I  am  ready  to  believe  it  may  be  a  blessing  to  him.  .  .  . 

Fri.,  Mar.  27. — The  day  of  Caroline  Doyle's  interment  at 
Bristol,  a  day  of  mourning  to  the  families  of  Fry.  Dear  Henry 
with  his  brother  Joseph  at  the  Hartlepools  to-day.  I  am 
anxious  about  their  reception  there,  prejudiced  as  the  people  of 
West  Hartlepool  are  by  Ward  Jackson,  a  bottomless  man. 

The  next  day  at  Southend  he  finds  his  "  cheerful 
grandsons  greatly  interested  and  bustling  about  their 
Uncle  Henry's  election." 

Fri.,  April  3. — The  Parliamentary  struggle  was  over  this 
evening.  Pease  2,568,  Vane  2,533,  Farrar  2,089.  This  result 
proves  this  section  of  the  county  is  not  in  the  dictation  of  the 
Duke  of  Cleveland.  Yet  the  decision  as  regards  my  precious 
Son  yields  me  no  comfort,  my  fears  and  forebodings  are  in  some 


344  EDWARD  PEASE.  1857 

degree  those  of  apprehension  that  it  will  not  be  for  his  soul's 
peace  or  that  this  dear  Son  may  be  exposed  to  temptations  and 
discomforts.  .  .  . 

He  himself  remains  "  thankfully  free  from  every 
excitement  as  regards  "  the  result. 

Mon.,  April  6. — Considerable  excitement  in  the  town,  the 
Sheriff  declaring  the  election  of  Pease  and  Vane.  My  mind 
does  not  derive  comfort  from  dear  Henry's  election,  but  as  an 
increase  of  virtuous  right-minded  men  in  the  House  of  Com 
mons  is  greatly  to  be  desired,  so  I  desire  that  merciful  over 
ruling  goodness  may  permit  some  enduring  good  to  spring  out 
of  what  my  dear  Son  does  consider  to  be  his  right  and  important 
station. 

A  day  or  two  later,  after  a  "  fluctuating  forenoon  " 
from  Friends  leaving  him  and  calling  at  his  house, 
he  writes  : — 

It  may  be  well  to  record  one  pleasing  circumstance,  possibly 
to  the  good  result  of  the  efforts  in  the  Temperance  cause,  that 
from  the  evidence  and  inquiries  I  have  made,  not  one  inebri 
ated  person  was  seen  on  the  day  of  dear  Henry's  return. 

Thurs.,  April  9. — A  small,  silent  week-day  meeting.  .  .  . 
From  age  and  circumstances  it  has  devolved  upon  me  to  break 
up  our  meeting.  It  is  always  a  very  serious  thing  to  me.  At 
times  in  the  meeting  and  in  my  own  spirit  there  is  such  a 
sense  of  precious  worship  I  hardly  dare  to  do  it,  at  other  times 
some  impatience  from  no  worship  being  felt. 

Fri.,  April  24. — My  friend  Robert  Stephenson  came  in 
about  noon,  he  accompanied  me  to  my  nephew  John  B.  P. 
to  meet  all  my  sons,  daughters,  and  their  descendants  in  this 
place  who  were  present.  The  evening  was  pleasantly  and 
gratifyingly  spent  in  converse.  But  oh,  my  leanness  in  feeling 
at  home  in  the  body.  .  .  . 

Sat.,  April  25. — R.  Stephenson  left  this  forenoon ;  his  repre 
sentation  of  the  Forth  Street  concern  bright  and  encouraging. 


Aet.  90        BIRTH  OF  A  GREAT-GRANDSON.  345 

He  handed  a  Hitchin  Railway  bond  to  the  amount  of  £5,000 
for  dear  Joseph  and  myself ;  the  bonds  are  at  par,  being  four  per 
cent,  bonds.  Cold. 

Mon.,  April  27. — A  pleasant  assemblage  at  my  dear  Grand 
son  J.  W.  P.,  and  his  Mary  and  her  sister,  socially,  I  hope 
allowably  spent.  .  . 

Wed.,  April  29. — Prolonged  and  how  long  has  been  my 
voyage  on  this  boundless  Ocean  of  time,  how  large  and  manifold 
have  been  my  blessings  and  preservations  through  the  un 
merited  mercy  of  God.  Ah,  and  how  have  I  seen  them  that 
had  forsaken  Him  blasted  and  blighted  and  obviously  sink, 
whilst  those  who  live  near  to  the  blessed  instruction  of  his 
Spirit  had  in  all  respects  a  prosperous  voyage  and  at  last 
anchored  where  there  were  no  more  storms. 

On  the  ist  of  May  Henry  joins  him  at  breakfast, 
"  having  yesterday  taken  his  seat  and  been  present 
at  the  choice  of  Speaker,  etc.,  and  returns  home  for 
the  week's  recess/' 

Fri.y  May  8. — Planted  the  West  yard  of  the  Meeting-house 
with  cuttings  of  Ivy  with  the  expectation  that  some  day  (not 
one  that  I  shall  live  to  see)  it  will  be  clothed  with  green  and 
add  to  the  agreeable  appearance  of  the  Grave  Yard.  My 
beloved  daughter  Gibson  and  her  Francis  came  this  evening, 
much  to  my  comfort. 

When  they  leave  on  the  igth  he  settles  in  at 
Southend. 

Tues.,  June  2. — Deprived  as  I  am  of  the  power  of  reading 
the  Holy  Scriptures  except  the  Book  of  Psalms  and  the 
New  Testament  which  I  greatly  value,  as  having  these  in 
large  type,  I  often  lament  that  my  memory  does  not  supply 
me  with  the  recollection  of  a  larger  number  of  instructive 
passages  from  the  Bible. 

Mon.,  June  29. — My  dear  Grandson  Joseph  W.  P.  announces 
to  me  that  this  morning  a  Son  is  born  to  him.  It  interests  me 


346  EDWARD  PEASE.  1857 

to  have  a  male  representative  of  my  family  in  the  third  genera 
tion.  May  he,  like  Samuel,  if  favored  to  live,  be  a  blessing 
and  comfort  to  his  parents.  May  they  dedicate  him  to  the 
Lord  and  train  him  for  a  dedication  so  holy  ! 

He  continues,  though  now  ninety,  to  go  to  Ayton  ; 
even  attends  the  General  Meeting  there,  "  accompanied 
by  Lucy  Fowler  and  Wm.  Ball  "  ;  "  120  dined  at  the 
school  "  (4th  August). 

Thurs.,  Aug.  6. — This  day  the  marriage  of  my  beloved 
Grand-daughter  Elizabeth  Lucy  to  John  Fowler.  The  meeting 
very  large — the  ministry  of  John  Dodshon,  John  Pease  and 
the  supplication  of  Isaac  Sharp  .  .  .  pertinent  to  the 
occasion  and  instructive. 

He  records  the  instantaneous  death  of  Thomas  James 
Backhouse  at  Seaton.  He  goes  to  Barnard  Castle 
with  Rachel  Fowler,  and  throughout  the  autumn 
makes  his  observations  on  the  crops  and  weather, 
as  of  old. 

Fri.,  Sept.  18. —  .  .  .  Accounts  are  still  received 
from  India  of  fresh  revolts  and  sad  details  of  most  cruel 
murders  of  hundreds  of  men,  women  and  children,  of  officers 
and  civilians,  that  hundreds  of  Europeans  have  fallen  before  a 
savage,  infuriated  people  and  the  rebellious  Sepoyz. 

Sat.,  Oct.  3. —  .  .  .  While  I  think  there  is  a  Christian 
liberty  as  to  the  use  of  liquor  that  can  intoxicate,  so  I  believe 
the  Christian  may  use  these  liquors  without  abusing  them 
or  being  abused  by  them.  The  Christian  now,  as  the  Apostle 
formerly,  can  do  all  through  Christ  strengthening  him. 

Wed.,  Oct.  14. — Parted  with  dear,  pious,  intelligent  cousin 
J.  Bevan  Braithwaite.  His  eye  and  intent  seems  whilst 
attending  to  claims  upon  him  as  a  useful  Barrister  to  be 
fixed  on  the  business  of  his  Lord  and  Master,  his  life  and 
conduct  is  a  lesson  and  teaching  for  me. 


Aet.  90        PRESENTATION  OF  AN  ADDRESS.  347 

Thurs.,  Oct.  15. — Informed  of  the  death  of  my  dear  honoured 
valuable  friend  Sam  Tuke,  a  man  dignified  by  uncommon 
talents,  most  useful  to  the  community  and  the  Church  in 
writing,  and  otherwise  accomplishing  much.  A  course  well 
run,  a  day's  work  well  done.  I  seem  to  shrink  into  merely 
nothing  when  I  look  at  the  man,  his  work  and  worth,  and  mine. 
.  .  .  Friend  after  friend  departs ;  surely  I  ought  to 
consider  the  messenger  at  my  door.  How  shall  I  feel  on 
his  arrival  ?  I  trust  with  a  humble  resigned  spirit,  with 
some  blessed  hope,  some  faith  in  Divine  mercy.  .  .  . 
There  was  a  day  when  through  infinite  compassion  in  a  time 
of  great  downbreaking  it  was  given  me  to  see  that  a  door  was 
open  which  no  man  should  be  able  to  shut,  and  whilst  that 
doorway  was  narrow  [writing  here  illegible]. 

Wed.,  Oct.  21. — Great  commercial  difficulty  and  pecuniary 
distress  is  reported  from  America.  .  .  .  Overtrading  is 
the  cause,  so  that  nationally  and  individually  it  is  true  that 
they  who  make  haste  to  be  rich  pierce  themselves  through 
with  many  sorrows. 

Friday,  Oct.,  23.  Morning. — I  leave  the  record  of  this  to 
me  eventful  and  rather  trying  day  until  it  is  closed.  Noon. 
Called  upon  by  twenty,  mostly  my  fellow  [townsmen  ?]  to 
present  me  with  an  address  commending  my  early  exertions 
respecting  Railways  and  Engineering,  also  my  Sons.  While 
to  be  useful  in  our  day  and  live  in  their  esteem  is  to  be  gratified, 
yet  the  Address  presented  is  quite  too  full  and  above  all  our 
services.* 

The  autumn  is  most  "  genial  "  ;  late  in  November 
there  has  been  "  no  frost  to  injure  Dalias  and  late 
flowers."  He  notes  "  the  pecuniary  troubles  and 
difficulties  which  many  opulent  and  highly  respected 
houses  are  severely  tried,  and  some  compelled  to  close." 
He  hears  of  relatives  and  friends  affected  by  this 
calamity,  and  is  very  much  concerned,  "  especially 
for  all  those  concerned  pecuniarily  in  the  Shotley 

*  Vide  p.  100,  et  seq. 


348  EDWARD  PEASE.  1857 

[?  Shirley]  Iron  Works,"  and  he  does  not  see  how  they 
can  "  escape  being  swallowed  in  the  Gulph."  He  attends 
regularly  the  "  select  meeting." 

On  the  3ist  December,  in  a  longer  entry  than  usual, 
he  sums  up  the  year.  He  says  among  other  things, 
that 

Winter  has  proceeded  thus  far  without  almost  any  appearance 
of  it,  the  mildness,  the  afterwarmth  of  the  day  has  been,  and 
yet  is  quite  remarkable  ;  grass  has  continued  to  grow,  and 
greenness  is  universal  ;  primroses  and  similar  evidences  of 
spring  from  the  swelled  buds  on  the  trees.  .  .  . 

He  records  his  own  and  descendants'  good  health  : 
the  troubles  resulting  from  the  failure  of  the  North 
umberland  Bank.  Then  come  in  writing  I  cannot 
decipher  some  remarks  in  regard  to  his  "  precious 
family,"  and  then  the  last  sentence  of  these 
records  : — 

Then  as  regards  my  precious  Sons  and  daughters,  inex 
pressible  is  my  comfort  in  them  and  in  believing  that  the  divine 
life  within  continues  and  does  encrease — weaning  them  from 
this  perishable  world. 

The  love  of  family  and  solicitude  for  his  descen 
dants  mark  him  to  the  last.  We  now  say  "  Good-bye  " 
to  the  good  old  man.  He  lived  to  the  end  of  July, 
1858,  and  then,  having  done  justly,  loved  mercy, 
walked  humbly,  and  loved  God  to  the  end,  He  was 
with  him  at  the  End. 

For  him  the  warfare  is  accomplished  in  the  fight 
he  thought  right  to  fight.  The  victory  is  won.  Who 
will  say,  who  has  smiled  at  the  pedantry  of  his  "  plain 
speech,"  or  when  he  sat  "  a  spectacle  "  with  his  hat 
on  in  Church,  or  when  he  called  himself  to  task  for 
looking  at  the  Illustrated  London  News,  or  for  betraying 


Aet.  90  THE  END.  349 

his  "  naturally  too  cheerful  disposition,"  that  it  was 
not  a  brave  fight  ?  Think  of  the  old  man  standing 
many  years  ago  over  the  snow-clad  mound,  in  the 
night  wind,  where  rests  the  "  once  lovely  form  "  of 
his  "  precious  Rachel,  and  of  something  else  which 
has  not  entered  into  the  heart  of  man  to  conceive, 
which  God  has  laid  up  for  those  that  love  Him." 


APPENDIX    I. 

Vide  p.  20. 

A  PLEA  FOR  A  PEACEABLE  SPIRIT. 

Addressed  by  the  Yearly  Meeting  of  the  Religious  Society  of 
Friends,  held  in  London,  $th  Month,  1901,  to  its  members 
and  to  the  Christian  Churches.* 

The  continuance  of  the  terrible  struggle  in  South  Africa 
has  made  our  hearts  heavy  under  a  sense  of  the  feeble  witness 
which  we  and  other  churches  have  borne  to  the  gospel  of  peace. 
War  has  laid  its  spell  of  hate  even  upon  the  Church  of  Christ, 
in  strange  discord  with  her  message  of  redeeming  love.  The 
political  origins  of  the  conflict  are  beside  our  present  purpose. 
The  avalanche  has  fallen,  and  now  it  is  the  ruin  in  its  path  that 
compels  consideration.  Confronted  with  war's  aftermath,  the 
Christian  conscience  is  ill  at  ease,  and  the  way  is  open  for  the 
peaceable  spirit  of  the  gospel  to  re-assert  itself  in  mind  and 
heart. 

Many  who  at  first  supported  the  war  with  honest  conviction, 
recognise  the  moral  deterioration  that  has  marked  its  progress. 
Individuals  have  made  heroic  sacrifice  for  a  cause  which  they 
believed  to  be  just :  many  have  borne  with  resignation  the 
heaviest  sorrow  which  can  darken  the  home  ;  but,  in  the 
nation  as  a  whole,  the  merciless  logic  of  war  has  induced  the 
suppression  of  the  noble  impulses,  and  has  shut  the  door 

*  For  a  general  statement  of  the  views  of  Friends  upon  the  subject 
of  War,  see  the  Address  on  "Christianity  and  War,"  issued  by  the 
Yearly  Meeting  in  1900,  to  be  obtained  at  the  offices  of  the  Society, 
12,  Bishopsgate  Without,  London,  E.G.,  where  copies  of  this  appeal  can 
also  be  supplied. 


352  EDWARD  PEASE. 

on  the  promptings  of  love.  As  passion  has  risen,  the  old 
story  has  been  repeated  ;  and  once  more  the  malice  of  man 
has  trampled  on  the  life  of  Christ.  How  lurid  is  the  scene 
before  us, — in  Africa  the  long-drawn  struggle  with  its  roll 
of  disease  and  death,  the  devastation  of  the  land,  the  burning 
of  homesteads,  the  driving  of  destitute  women  and  children 
into  vast  camps,  the  widening  gulf  of  hate  and  bitterness 
between  the  two  races ;  and  in  England  the  reign  of 
prejudice,  the  fever  of  passion,  the  riots,  the  orgies  in  our 
streets,  the  preaching  of  vengeance  by  the  press  and  even 
from  some  pulpits.  Had  men  seen  these  things  when  yet 
they  deemed  war  a  remedy,  surely  the  conscience  of  both 
peoples  would  have  recoiled  from  the  conflict  as  from  a 
crime.  It  is  under  this  burden  of  the  realities  of  war  that 
we  would  press  the  question,  "  Can  such  strife  be  consistent 
with  the  spirit  of  Christ  ?" 

The  defamation  of  our  foes,  which  has  denied  the  columns 
of  our  secular  and  even  of  our  religious  press,  cannot  by  any 
jugglery  of  logic  be  accommodated  to  the  sublime  command, 
"  Love  your  enemies."  The  unchristian  spirit  which  de 
nounces  "  magnanimity"  and  insists  on  a  "  fight  to  a  finish," 
has  swept  like  a  parching  desert  wind  through  the  church  s. 
Conceal  it  as  we  may,  we  have  been  betrayed  into 
inconsistencies  which  stand  exposed  to  a  scoffing  world, 
and  weaken  our  testimony  to  God's  redeeming  love.  In 
condoning  militarism  the  Christian  church  destroys  with 
one  hand  the  edifice  of  love  which  she  seeks  to  build  with 
the  other.  It  is  her  call  to  purify  the  national  conscience, 
to  build  up  national  character,  and  to  insist  that  in  corpor 
ate  as  in  individual  life  the  one  standard  of  conduct  must  be 
the  standard  of  Christ.  As  an  apologist  for  war  she  abdi 
cates  her  function.  The  fellowship  of  mankind  in  Christ  over 
steps  the  narrow  limits  of  any  exclusive  patriotism,  while  it 
preserves  and  cherishes  the  finer  elements  of  national  life. 

The  platform  and  the  press  to-day  proclaim  aloud  the 
false  doctrine  of  force,  and  men  will  scarcely  brook  the  slower 
methods  of  peace.  But  in  South  Africa  force  has  not  solved 
but  complicated  the  racial  and  political  problem.  And  in  China 
the  barbarism  of  the  allied  intervention,  with  its  atrocities 


APPENDIX  I.  353 

in  the  name  of  Europe,  must  for  long  years  retard  mission 
ary  effort,  and  stamps  with  hypocrisy  a  civilisation  which 
professes  brotherhood,  but  practises  revenge. 

The  issue  lies  plain  before  the  Christian  church.  On 
the  one  hand  we  see  a  growing  reliance  on  military  power 
for  material  ends,  on  the  other  the  ideal  of  righteousness 
and  love  as  the  bond  and  foundation  of  empire.  The  ideal 
tarries  through  want  of  faith  in  the  practical  efficacy  of  the 
spirit  and  teaching  of  Christ. 

We  appeal  to  the  churches  to  wake  to  their  high  task 
of  maintaining  a  faith  which  shall  make  no  compromise 
with  evil,  but  penetrate  life  with  the  Master's  spirit  of  peace. 
He  who  came  to  heal  the  broken-hearted  and  to  proclaim 
liberty  to  the  captives  requires  from  us  that  we  should  bid 
the  slaughter  cease,  and  bind  up  the  wounds  of  war  with  hands 
of  mercy. 

Signed,  in  and  on  behalf  of  the  Yearly  Meeting, 

JOHN  MORLAND, 

Clerk. 


APPENDIX    II. 

Vide  p.  27. 


A  "  FRIENDS'  "  WEDDING. 

(From  the  Darlington  and  Stockton  Times  of  March  8th,  1851.) 

In  recording  the  proceedings  in  connection  with  the 
solemnization  of  matrimony  according  to  the  usages  of  the 
Society  of  Friends  we  feel  some  hesitation  in  so  far  invading 
the  sanctities  attaching  to  a  rite  so  sacred,  by  entering  into 
a  detail  of  the  minutiae  of  the  ceremony ;  in  deference,  however, 
to  the,  perhaps,  pardonable  curiosity  of  the  gentle  reader, 
we  so  far  lay  aside  that  hesitancy,  as  to  present  an  outline  of 
the  proceedings. 

The  wedding  of  Miss  Rachel  Pease,  third  daughter  of 
Joseph  Pease,  Esq.,  to  Charles  Albert  Leatham,  Esq.,  of 
Cleveland  Lawn,  Middlesbrough,  took  place  on  Thursday 
morning  last.  At  an  early  hour  the  Friends'  Meeting-house 
was  crowded  to  excess  in  every  part,  by  an  assemblage  which 
included  the  beauty  and  influence  of  the  town,  and,  to  a 
considerable  extent,  of  the  district.  At  ten  o'clock,  a  number 
of  carriages  arrived,  containing  the  bridal  party,  who  entered 
the  ante-room  or  vestry  ;  and  at  a  quarter  past  ten,  Joseph 
Pease,  Esq.,  and  Mrs.  Pease,  entered  the  chapel,  followed 
by  the  bride  and  bridgeroom  elect ;  Mrs.  Leetham,  his  mother  ; 
Wm.  Henry  Leatham,  Esq.  ;  John  Bright,  Esq.,  M.P.,  and 
Mrs.  Bright ;  Mr.  Joseph  Whitwell  Pease,  and  Miss  Birkbeck, 
of  Norwich  ;  Mr.  Wm.  Birkbeck  and  Miss  Gibson  ;  Mr.  F.  E. 
Gibson  and  Miss  Hustler ;  the  three  Misses  Pease,  sisters  of 

354 


APPENDIX  II.  355 

the  bride,  accompanied  by  Messrs.  Fowler,  Edward  Leatham, 
and  H.  Barclay,  Mr.  Edward  Pease,  jun.,  and  Miss  Sophia 
Pease,  of  East  Mount,  and  Mr.  H.  Fell  Pease  and  Miss  M.  A. 
Pease,  of  East  Mount.  As  we  are  not  skilled  in  describing 
the  mysteries  of  a  lady's  toilet,  the  curiosity  of  our  fair  readers 
must  be  contented  with  the  simple  statement  that  the  lovely 
and  accomplished  bride  was  attired  in  a  dress  of  white  silk, 
surmounted  by  a  paletot  (we  believe  that  is  the  word),  and 
bonnet  of  similar  materials ;  and  the  seven  bridesmaids 
appeared  in  dresses  of  pale  lavender-coloured  silk,  with  paletots 
of  white  cashmere,  trimmed  with  swans'  down  :  the  bonnets, 
with  one  exception,  were  of  white  silk  ;  the  appearance  of  the 
whole  being  in  a  high  degree  unique,  chaste,  and  elegant. 
Prior  to  the  entrance  of  the  bridal  party,  we  noticed  the 
presence  of  a  party  of  the  relatives  and  friends  of  the  family, 
among  whom  were  Mr.  Edward  Pease  and  Mrs.  Anna  Pease, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  Pease,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fry,  Mr.  H.  Pease, 
Miss  Coates,  of  Smelt  House,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Edmund  Back 
house.  Amongst  those  present  besides  those  we  have  named, 
we  noticed  Mrs.  John  Backhouse,  Mrs.  Wm.  Backhouse,  Mrs. 
Whitwell,  Mrs.  Isaac  Wilson,  of  Middlesbrough,  Messrs.  Isaac 
Sharp,  Wm.  Backhouse,  Isaac  Wilson,  Edgar  Gilkes,  J.  G. 
Barclay  and  others. 

After  sitting  for  some  fifteen  minutes  in  solemn  silence,  the 
bridegroom  arose,  and  taking  his  bride  by  the  hand,  said  : 
Friends,  I  take  this  my  friend,  Rachel  Pease,  to  be  my  wife, 
promising  by  divine  assistance,  to  be  unto  her  a  faithful  and 
affectionate  husband,  until  it  shall  please  the  Lord  by  death  to 
separate  us. 

The  bride  then  said  :  Friends,  I  take  this  my  friend,  Charles 
Albert  Leatham,  to  be  my  husband  ;  promising,  by  divine 
assistance,  to  be  to  him  a  faithful  and  affectionate  wife,  until 
it  shall  please  the  Lord  by  death  to  separate  us. 

After  a  further  pause  of  some  minutes,  Mrs.  John  (Catharine) 
Backhouse  engaged  in  prayer. 

Mr.  John  Pease  then  rose  and  addressed  the  assembly. 
He  said  the  occasion  on  which  they  were  met  was  doubtless 
one  of  exceeding  interest — in  having  the  opportunity  of  mark 
ing  those  whose  progress  they  had  observed  from  their  birth — 


356  EDWARD  PEASE. 

in  having  the  opportunity  of  observing  those,  if  he  might  so 
speak,  of  a  fresh  generation  entering  into  that  covenant  which 
was  so  marked  throughout  with  events,  and  which  death  only 
could  dissolve.  He  thought  that  the  language  of  that  cove 
nant  must  have  fallen  very  solemnly  on  the  ears  of  many  present 
as  a  promise,  made  in  the  presence  of  that  large  company,  of 
faithfulness  through  life — a  promise  of  union  that  should  con 
tinue  until  the  messenger  on  the  pale  horse  should  dissolve  the 
tie — a  covenant  made  on  earth,  but  heard,  as  he  hesitated 
not  to  believe,  and  recorded  in  heaven  ;  and  with  all  the 
love  that  he  bore  towards  those  who  had  entered  into  that 
covenant,  and  with  all  the  love  which  filled  his  bosom  towards 
their  progenitors  and  friends,  his  heart  went  along  with  the 
prayer,  that  in  heaven,  His  holy  habitation,  the  Almighty  God 
of  heaven  and  earth,  might  not  only  have  heard  this  covenant, 
but  that  in  days  to  come,  those  who  lived  to  see  them  might 
witness  His  blessing  upon  it.  They  as  a  religious  society 
professed  that  marriage  should  be  solemnised  in  a  religious 
assembly,  and  that  therefore  it  was  meet  that  they  should  own 
and  seek  for  the  presence  of  Him,  who  although  He  had  prom 
ised  to  be  with  two  or  three  met  together  in  His  name,  never 
once  declared  His  absence  from  any  assembly  gathered  in  His 
fear  and  asking  His  counsel.  And  during  the  time  of  their 
solemn  silence  he  had  remembered  that  for  the  untold  and 
inestimable  blessing  of  a  righteous  marriage,  as  well  as  for  all 
other  religious  blessings,  they  were  indebted  to  that  glorious 
Lord,  who  left  the  bosom  of  His  Father  and  took  upon  Him  our 
flesh  ;  and  died  and  rose  again  for  us,  for  it  was  not  unknown 
to  them  that  even  at  this  day,  in  nations  where  His  name 
was  not  named,  the  marriage  tie  did  not  exist,  and  the  greatest 
degradation  and  confusion  was  the  result.  It  was  also  known 
to  them  that  under  the  law  (of  man)  that  tie  could  be  easily 
dissolved  ;  but  under  that  glorious  gospel  dispensation,  under 
which  it  was  their  privilege  to  live,  and  which  constituted  so 
much  of  their  accountability,  that  sacred  tie  was  one  that, 
as  no  man  could  make  it  for  another,  so  no  man  could  break 
it  when  once  made  ;  henceforth  the  man  and  woman  were  one 
flesh,  and  any  separation  short  of  death  was  sin  before  the 
majesty  of  heaven.  It  was  at  once  consonant  with  the  doctrine 


APPENDIX  II.    ,  357 

of  holy  scripture  and  known  to  all  intelligent  Christians  that 
the  Lord  made  us  and  not  we  ourselves ;  it  was  known  that 
with  the  circumstances  of  our  birth  and  first  location  in  this  life, 
we  had  nothing  to  do  ;  it  was  known  that  in  many  incidents 
of  their  infancy  and  younger  years,  the  unseen  hand  of  provi 
dence  watched  over  them  ;  and  as  their  steps  tended  towards 
man's  estate,  he  thought  it  must  be  allowed  that  their  account 
ability  was  gradually  increasing.  In  such  measure  as  they 
duly  became  more  and  more  acquainted  with  His  holy  will 
their  accountability  increased  ;  and  as  in  the  earlier  stages  of 
life  they  had  little  to  do  with  the  circumstances  in  which  they 
were  placed,  so  when  they  came  to  the  period  of  life  at  which 
their  young  friends  had  now  arrived,  they  came  to  the  point 
at  which  they  could  no  longer  remove  from  themselves  any 
part  of  the  awful  responsibility  belonging  to  them.  In  pro 
ceeding  to  the  solemn  covenant  of  marriage,  the  man  in  some 
sort  took  the  responsibility  upon  his  own  shoulders,  unless  as  a 
praying  Christian  he  acknowledged  the  government  should 
be  on  the  shoulders  of  Christ.  Whatever  might  have  been 
the  measure  of  responsibility  in  days  past,  when  about  to  enter 
into  this  covenant,  a  due  sense  of  responsibility  ought  to  have 
been  felt.  As  the  marriage  covenant  was  the  most  sacred,  so 
it  was  the  most  important  step  of  a  man's  life  ;  it  would  affect 
him  every  subsequent  day  and  hour,  and  not  only  himself 
would  it  affect,  but  perhaps,  through  him,  immortal  souls 
not  yet  in  the  world,  and  it  would  doubtless  have  an  effect 
on  the  life  to  come.  He  thought,  then,  that  every  true-hearted 
Christian,  every  praying  man  and  every  praying  woman,  having 
the  prospect  of  such  covenant  would  find  the  time  preceding 
it  one  for  prayer,  and  asking  of  divine  counsel.  The  more 
they  were  acquainted  with  their  own  hearts,  and  with  those 
who  had  trodden  life  before  them,  the  more  satisfied  they 
would  be  that  this  view  was  true.  In  speaking  of  account 
ability  in  the  divine  sight,  they  still  held  that  that  account 
ability  was  only  in  proportion  to  the  light  received  ;  if  a  man 
had  not  received  knowledge,  his  Heavenly  Father  did  not  call 
upon  him  to  act  according  to  knowledge;  if  our  Heavenly 
Father  did  not  offer  to  man  His  guidance  and  strength,  He  did 
not  expect  him  to  act  upon  it ;  but  if  it  were  true  that  not  a 


358  EDWARD  PEASE. 

hair  of  their  heads  fell  to  the  ground  without  His  knowledge, 
could  they  doubt  His  care  in  things  which  should  in  all  prob 
ability  effect  them  and  theirs  in  time  and  in  eternity  ?  Could 
they  question  for  one  moment  that  that  ear  which  was  always 
open  to  the  cry  of  the  poor  and  the  complaints  of  His  children 
should  be  closed  when  they  were  about  to  enter  on  a  step  like 
this  ?  Mr.  Pease  proceeded  at  some  length  further  to  enlarge 
on  the  true  spiritual  nature  of  the  union,  and  the  solemnity 
of  the  responsibilities  it  involved,  and,  after  referring  to  the 
temporal  blessings  it  conferred,  concluded  by  deprecating  the 
disposition  to  rest  satisfied  with  these  blessings,  as  there 
remained  for  those  who  should  be  accounted  worthy,  blessings 
transcendently  more  glorious  than  any  in  this  world  which 
should  perish,  but  the  treasure  in  heaven  had  the  sure  title  that 
it  should  endure  for  ever. 

Mr.  J.  F.  Clapham  then  read  a  document,  certifying  that 
the  proper  preliminary  announcements  of  the  intention  of  the 
parties  to  the  contract  had  been  made,  and  that  they  had  that 
morning  publicly  entered  into  the  contract.  The  document 
was  then  signed  by  the  bride  and  bridegroom,  and  afterwards 
by  Margaret  Leatham,  Wm.  Henry  Leatham,  Joseph  Pease, 
Emma  Pease,  and  Edward  Pease. 

Mrs.  John  Pease  then  engaged  in  prayer  ;  after  which  Mr. 
Edward  Pease  invited  all  who  were  disposed  so  to  do,  to 
sign,  as  witnesses,  the  certificate  of  the  due  performance  of  the 
marriage — an  invitation  which  was  responded  to  by  a  goodly 
number  of  the  family  and  friends.  This  terminated  the  pro 
ceedings. 

Early  in  the  morning,  and  at  intervals  throughout  the  day, 
the  bells  of  St.  Cuthbert's  and  St.  John's  sent  forth  their 
merriest  peals  :  to  these  were  added  the  best  efforts  of  the 
Central  Hall  brass  band  ;  and  occasional  salvos  of  artillery 
ever  and  anon  booming  forth,  all  contributed  to  lend  to  the 
town  the  aspect  of  a  holiday,  in  honour  of  the  occasion. 


APPENDIX    III. 

Vide  p.  46. 


Edward  Pease's  mother  must  have  been  something  of  a 
character,  and  her  influence  on  his  mind  can  be  traced.  She 
kept  her  eye  on  her  sons  and  let  them  know  when  she  thought 
they  were  not  doing  the  wisest  things  in  their  business.  For 
instance,  she  advises  them  as  to  how  they  may  economise 
room  in  their  weaving  sheds,  combing  rooms,  and  mills,  she 
suggests  that  more  attention  should  be  given  to  the  comfort 
of  those  employed.  "  It  is  pleasant,"  she  says,  "  for  masters 
and  servants  to  Love  and  value  each  other,"  and  for  masters 
"  to  show  it  by  a  proper  regard  to  the  conduct  of  servants, 
incouraging  the  sober  and  orderly,  by  labouring  to  reclaime 
the  disorderly  and  if  not  recoverable  to  free  them  from  such 
bad  Company  and  make  their  work  shops  convenient  and 
comfortable  ;  in  this  way  valluable  Servants  will  settle  with  you 
and  be  in  your  interest."  She  tells  them  to  serve  their  friends 
when  they  want  to  buy ;  that  to  do  so  "  at  a  faire  market  price 
Obliges  them  and  keeps  them  from  going  to  others  "  and  that 
it  is  "  ungenerous  to  desire  to  have  the  whole  advantage 
of  a  rising  market  if  it  was  in  ones  power  .  .  .  persons 
of  this  cast  are  not  esteemed  generous  nor  Friendly." 

In  1805,  some  fifteen  years  or  more  after  this,  she  says  in 
a  letter  to  Edward  : 

Now  to  say  what  has  wounded  my  feelings  Is  when  anything 
willfull  or  obstinate,  not  thought  to  be  accessable  to  reason  is 
remarked  It  is  saide  He,  Shee,  or  we  are  Richardsons  ;  Its  true 
I  have  a  Brother  that  has  caus'd  much  sorrow  and  for  Him  and 
His  I  have  nothing  to  say  though  I  have  had  some  satisfaction 
concerning  Him  of  late  which  I  am  thankful  for.  As  to  my 

359 


360  EDWARD  PEASE. 

forelders  on  my  mother's  side  my  Grandfather  was  a  respectable 
Honist  Friend  and  his  Wife  much  esteemd  as  a  Woman  of  superior 
abilitys  and  a  Religious  Woman,  shee  educated  her  Daughters 
three  of  whome  were  Ministers  in  good  esteem.  They  had 
12  Children  9  married  with  their  consent  to  respectable  Friends. 
No  blemishes  among  them.  And  as  to  the  succeeding  generations 
both  on  my  Fathers  and  Mothers  side  I  think  their  is  as  much 
veracity  and  integrity  amongst  them  as  in  most  Famalys  in  our 
Day.  I  cannot  blame  myself  for  Obstinacy  for  I  have  ever 
esteemed  others  so  much  wiser  and  cueter,  that  I  esteemed  it 
a  favour  to  hear  the  sentiments  of  my  Friends.  .  .  .  Whether 
thou  know  it  or  not  Thy  Father  is  much  Improved  and  come 
nearer  to  the  truth  than  in  the  early  part  of  His  Life.  He  wou'd 
sometimes  say  to  me  "  I  see  natural  propensitys  in  Our  Famaly 
which  I  endeavour  to  guard  against."  But  had  those  propensitys 
been  remarked  in  His  Father's  House  and  he  or  any  of  his  Brothers 
replyed  "  We  are  Coateses  "  how  would  it  have  been  relished  ? 

This  reference  to  the  "  obstinacy  "  and  "  willfullness  "  in 
the  Richardson  family  is  amusing  for  I  often  heard  in  my 
youth  my  elders  mention  the  quality,  and  "  a  bit  of  Richard 
son  "  was  used  to  express  approval  or  the  reverse  of  some 
stubbornness,  or  a  refusal  to  be  convinced  or  persuaded.  In 
another  letter  she  tells  her  sons  (Edward  and  Joseph) : 

I  was  never  a  Friend  to  any  project  for  great  Trades  or 
prospects  of  getting  Wealth.  ...  I  often  found  our  business 
too  large  and  combersome.  ...  I  always  wished  old  Friends 
in  Trade  served  if  their  was  a  reasonable  profit,  feeling  more 
satisfaction  in  that  than  in  great  gain,  but  I  think  you  two  incline 
to  a  way  in  which  I  have  remarked  several  disagreeable  events. 

In  1812  she  writes  to  Edward  and  presses  on  him  the 
need  of  being  careful  to  keep  the  things  of  this  world  in 
their  proper  places  and  even  in  business  preferring  others 
before  themselves ;  she  says  : 

It  is  often  a  source  of  sorrow  to  me,  when  I  consider  how 
great  a  part  of  my  fellow-creatures  are  spending  their  time  in 
mines  and  pits  to  gaine  the  nessasary  support  of  life  and  how 
many  more  whose  lives  are  sacrificed  to  avarice  and  ambition 
by  the  professors  of  Christianity  which  will  certainly  draw  down 
the  Divine  displeasure  on  this  highly  favoured  land. 


APPENDIX   IV. 

Vide  p.  47. 


It  appears  from  old  Account  Books  in  my  possession  that 
Edward  Pease  the  elder  and  grandfather  of  the  Edward  Pease, 
the  subject  of  this  memoir,  and  his  son  Joseph  besides  being 
Combers,  Weavers,  and  Wool-buyers  did  a  considerable  Banking 
Business,  of  a  kind,  for  a  small  town  like  Darlington.  In  the 
oldest  Interest  Book  I  have,  1765-1799,  there  are  109  accounts. 
The  deposits  are  small  and  the  interest  allowed  on  them 
generally  4^  per  cent.  Among  the  depositors  who  hold  Bonds 
from  Edward  and  Joseph  Pease  are,  Mary  Newby,  Martha 
Richardson,  several  Turners,  Jas.  Rodger  (and  other  Rodgers 
of  Selkirk),  Geo.  Flintoff,  Isaac  Robinson,  John  Myers,  John 
Kemp,  Thos.  Couldwell,  George  Pease,  Lydia  Richardson, 
(£900  of  her  money  is  lent  on  mortgage  "  on  my  land  at 
Haughton  Moor  "  at  4  per  cent.)  Hannah  Walker,  Jeremiah 
Henderson  (and  other  Hendersons),  Christo.  Richardson,  Wm. 
Richardson,  The  Rector  of  Hurworth  (an  account  in  respect 
of  4  fields  sold  to  Thos.  Pease,  circa  1777)  Jno.  Weatherall, 
Wm.  Jackson,  Lancelot  Lewis,  —  Benning  (of  Bd.  Castle), 
John  Calvert  (Nr.  Dalton),  Dorothy  Milburn,  Jno.  Parnaby, 
Ingram  Chapman  (also  Thos.  and  Ingram  Chapman  "  Juner  " 
and  "  his  son  John  "),  Jeremiah  McLain,  Robt.  Morton,  Molly 
Dixon,  Henry  Robson,  Robt.  Smith  of  Greatham,  Thos.  Rudd 
(also  John  and  George  Rudd),  Jane  Jorden,  Hannah  Davenport, 
Jno.  Heslop,  Hannah  Pease  (account  closed  by  payment  of 
cash  "  Principall  to  John  Frank  and  Ann  Frank."  A  note  to  this 
account  "  1786  i  mo.,  19.  By  Cash  in  Bond  To  Thos.  Couldwell 
at  4J  per  cent.  Han.  Pease  to  have  the  Intrest  for  her  Life  and 

361 


362  EDWARD  PEASE. 

to  be  divided  amongst  Her  children,"  v.  Ed.  Pease's  will  1785), 
John  Carr,  John  Baker,  Jno.  Scott,  Henry  Mason,  Wm. 
Holmes,  Geo.  Simpson,  Hy.  Lamb,  Jos.  Oswald,  Christo. 
Harrison  (also  Jacob  and  Philip),  Ann  Allison,  Ralph  Briggs, 
Thos.  Richardson,  Antho.  Reed,  Tho.  Thirlanay,  James 
lanson,  Susa.  Singleton,  Robt,  Morrel,  John  Elgie  ("  How- 
worth  "),  Thos.  Bowman,  of  Darlington,  John  Sowerby, 
John  Benley  of  Darlington,  Jonathan  James  Backhouse, 
John  Lyon,  Thos.  and  Mathew  Nayler,  John  Cook,  Thos.  Moss, 
Mary  Knight,  Eliz.  Revely,  Hy.  Dunning,  Eliz.  Parkin,  Geo. 
Blakeston,  Ed.  and  Francis  Hall,  John  Olliver,  etc. 


APPENDIX  V. 

Vide  p.  52. 


ITEMS   ABSTRACTED    FROM    RACHEL    PEASE'S 
ACCOUNTS. 

I    s.     d. 

3  Muslin  Handkerchiefs     . .  7    ° 

3  Pocket            „  86 

Mode  for  a  bonnet              . .  •  •           3    ° 

A  pair  of  shoes    . .             . .  63 

A  pair  of  gloves  and  mits  . .  4    ° 

Gown  making  and  altering  . .           3     Ti 

Russet  skirt         . .             . .  •  •         TT     6 

Cloth  for  shifts    . .             . .  . .     2    6     ij 

A  pair  of  shoes  . .             . .  5    ° 

A  muslin  apron                  . .  •  •           47 

A  printed  gown                  . .  •  •         19    o 

A  gown  making  and  lining  2     gj 

3  Pocket  Handkerchiefs    . .  22 
A  Muslin  Handkerchief     . . 

A  pair  of  Pockets  28 

Firret                    ..  02 

Silk  and  galloon                 . .  06 

Cambrick              . .             .  •  •  •           I     T 
A  pair  of  mits 

6  pair  of  stockings             . .  . .     i     o    8 

Ribbon,  silk  and  worsted  . .  04 

A  pair  of  shoes    . .             . .  •  •           5     2 

A  pair  of  Gloves  . .             . .  ..022 

Shoes  and  pattons  mending  . .           13 
363 


364  EDWARD  PEASE. 

I  s.    d. 

A  black  Coat        . .             . .  . .     i  10    6 

Serge  for  a  Cloak                 . .  . .  14    o 

A  silk  bind  Petticoat          . .  ..  17    8 J 

A  pair  of  Stays     . .  . .  ..176 

1795  A    pound    of    pins            . .  . .  26 

2  Aprons               . .             . .  . .  12    4j 

Muslin  for  Caps  . .             . .  . .  29 

A  Petticoat  quilting  and  silk  . .  34 

A  Duffle  Cloak     ..  ...  ..152 

A  Gingham  gown  . .  ..102 

3  Shifts                 ..             ..  ».  ii     7 

2  Muslin  Aprons                  . .  . .  12     9 

Hair  Powder        . .             . .  . .  9^ 

A  Whip                . .             . .  . .  20 

1796  Journeys  and  Presents      . .  . .   37  i     7 
Presents  and  Vales            . .  . .     6  12    5 
A  Sarcenet  Bonnet             . .  . .  40 
Drab  Persian       . .              . .  ...  9 

3  pair  of  Shoes    . .             . .  . .  18     9 

Gowns  making  and  lining  . .  . .     i  i     6 

6  Shifts                ..             ..  ...     i  19  10 

etc.,  etc. 


APPENDIX  VI. 

Vide  p.  S3- 


Edward  Pease  in  1801  draws  a  neat  plan  of  his  three 
gardens  (one  beyond  the  other),  and  attaches  an  index  to  it 
of  the  fruit  trees.  The  following  is  a  list  of  "  wall  trees  planted 
2  mo.  9,  1801  "  : — 


Newington  Nectarine 
Early  Avant  Peach 
Violet  Native  Nectarine 
Vanguard  Peach 
Black-heart   Cherry 
Moor  Park  Apricot 
Magnum  bonum 
May  Duke 
Red  Magdalen  Peach 
Orleans 

Old  Newington  Peach 
Orange  Apricot 
Parcours  de  Cour 
Fotheringham  Plum 
Noblesse  Peach 
White  heart  Cherry 
Drap  d'Or  plum 
Winesour  Plumb 
Violet  Pedrigon 
Imperatrice  Plum 
Almond  Greengage 
Chaumontel  Pear 


ESPALIERS 

Standard  Almond 
Wheelers  Russet 
Golden  Rennet 
Gold  Russet 
Kentish  Pippin 
Nonsuch 

Kentish  Fillbasket 
Summer  Pippin 
Red  Juneating 
White     ditto 
Ribston  Pippin 
Monstrous  Rennet 
Mindria  Crab 
Nonpareil 
Dutch  Codling 
Margill 
Royal  Rupert 
Jean  Hative 
Violet  de  Tours 
Catherine 
Cheston  Plum 


365 


366  EDWARD  PEASE. 

ESPALIERS  STANDARDS 

La  Mirabelle  Scarlet  Crab 

Brignole  Plum  Fox-whelp 

Monsieur  George  Apple 

Wentworth  Red  and  White  Calvil 

Red  Magnum  Summer  Pearmain 

Green  Magnum  Summer  Queening 

Damzun  Silver  Pippin 

La  Reinette-grise 
La  haute  bonte 

STANDARDS  Wheelers  Russet 

Barnards  Baker  Sharps  Russet 

Frank  Rambour  Holland  Pippin 

Stripe  Beaufin  Winter  Queening 

Aromatic  Pippin  Pits  Russet 

Flowery  town  Pippin  John  Apple 

Dwf.  Kentish  Pippin  Brussels  Apricot 

Stone  Pippin  White  Magdalen  Peach 

Golden  Pearmain  Mignonne 

Beaufin  Italian   Peach 

London  Pippin  Montauban 

T.  Priestman  Violet  Peach 

Court  of  Wick  Pippin  Pavie  Royale. 

Among  other  trees  mentioned  in  this  list  of  fruit  trees  planted 
out  of  doors  are  Figs  for  walls  and  Mulberry,  Medlars  and  Almonds 
in  the  open. 


APPENDIX  VII. 

Vide  p.  60. 


PAPERS    RELATING    TO   THE   EMPEROR 
ALEXANDER,    1814-1815. 

(i.)  A  short  account  of  the  commencement  of  religious  im 
pressions  on  the  minds  of  Alexander  Emperor  of  Russia  and 
Prince  Gallitzin,  between  whom  a  great  degree  of  friendship 
had  subsisted  for  many  years. 

The  Office  of  Minister  of  Religion  having  become  vacant, 
the  Emperor  was  desirous  of  bestowing  it  on  an  individual 
whom  he  esteemed,  but  understanding  that  the  person  he 
had  in  view  was  attached  to  the  Bible  from  principle,  he 
altered  his  intention,  and  with  some  difficulty  prevailed  on 
Prince  Gallitzin  to  accept  the  situation.  The  Prince  very 
early  felt  himself  in  an  awkward  predicament,  not  knowing 
how  to  execute  his  trust  with  propriety ;  he  therefore  sent  for 
the  Bishop  of  the  Diocese  to  ask  his  advice  ;  the  Bishop 
referred  him  to  a  certain  book  which  he  entreated  him  to 
study,  and  assured  him  if  he  did  so  faithfully,  he  would  find  no 
difficulty  in  proceeding  rightly  in  his  new  situation  :  this 
book  was  the  Bible.  The  Prince  made  some  opposition  to 
the  proposal,  being  prejudiced  against  the  Bible  ;  but  in  a 
short  time  he  secretly  obtained  one,  and  read  it  with  great 
attention,  the  more  he  read  it  the  better  he  was  satisfied  and 
his  understanding  became  much  enlightened.  This  occurred 
a  short  time  previous  to  the  entrance  of  the  French  Army 
into  Russia :  when  the  account  of  that  event  reached  Peters 
burg,  it  produced  great  consternation  in  the  Russian  Court, 

367 


368  EDWARD  PEASE. 

and  terror  seemed  to  sit  on  every  countenance,  the  Prince 
alone  appeared  calm  and  serene,  which  circumstance  caused 
universal  surprise,  and  was  noticed  by  the  Emperor,  who  was 
too  well  assured  of  the  serenity  of  the  attachment  of  his  friend 
to  suppose  him  capable  of  being  a  traitor,  or  insensible  to 
difficulties  which  seemed  to  threaten  the  ruin  of  the  Empire. 
He  took  an  opportunity  of  calling  on  the  Prince  and  inquired 
of  him  how  it  was  that  he  was  so  composed  when  every  one 
else  was  in  dismay  ?  The  Prince  replied  that  he  had  of  late 
read  the  Scriptures,  and  that  they  had  fortified  his  mind 
against  every  danger  and  given  him  a  firm  trust  in  Divine 
Help  and  protection  :  the  Bible  was  lying  on  the  table  and  he 
urged  the  Emperor  to  peruse  it,  believing  it  would  have  the 
same  calming  influence  on  his  mind  as  he  himself  had  been 
favoured  to  experience  :  the  Emperor  was  displeased  and 
pushed  the  Bible  with  some  violence  on  to  the  floor  :  the 
Prince  took  it  up  open  as  it  was  and  entreated  the  Emperor 
to  permit  him  to  read  the  part  which  was  then  open  ;  this 
was  assented  to,  and  the  gist  Psalm  being  read  the  Emperor 
was  much  struck  with  the  appropriate  and  consoling  language 
it  contained. 

The  Russian  Army  being  about  to  leave  Petersburg,  to 
meet  Bonaparte,  the  Emperor  with  his  Officers  went  to  church 
as  is  usual  on  such  occasions  :  on  that  part  of  the  service  of 
the  Greek  Church  being  read,  which  is  a  portion  of  the  Scrip 
tures,  the  Emperor  was  greatly  surprised  to  find  it  to  be  the 
gist  Psalm,  he  apprehended  that  it  was  Prince  Gallatzin 
who  was  with  him  had  desired  this,  and  questioned  him  on  the 
subject ;  the  Prince  declared  that  he  had  not  either  directly 
or  indirectly  had  any  communion  with  the  person  who  read 
the  service,  since  the  conversation  he  had  had  with  the 
Emperor  about  the  Bible.  The  Emperor  became  satisfied 
that  the  Scriptures  were  truly  valuable  and  when  in  the  camp 
with  his  army  sent  for  one  of  the  chaplains  to  read  the  Bible 
to  him,  when  to  his  great  astonishment  the  portion  chosen 
was  the  gist  Psalm,  he  asked  the  clergyman  who  had  told 
him  to  read  that  Psalm  ?  he  replied,  God,  for  when  he  was 
told  on  what  account  the  Emperor  had  sent  for  him,  he  had 
most  earnestly  prayed  to  be  instructed,  what  part  of  the 


APPENDIX  VII.  369 

Scriptures  he  should  read  in  order  for  the  spiritual  improve 
ment  of  the  Emperor,  and  that  it  was  from  a  divine  impulse 
he  had  read  that  Psalm.  The  Emperor  now  became  more  and 
more  delighted  with  the  Bible,  and  his  subsequent  conduct 
prov'd  the  influence  that  real  Religion  had  on  his  mind. 
While  he  was  in  the  Southern  part  of  Europe  he  ordered  that 
a  woman  to  whom  he  had  been  for  some  years  attach' d, 
should  leave  Russia,  giving  her  for  a  reason,  that  it  was  in 
compatible  with  religion  that  he  should  continue  the  society 
of  a  person  who  had  become  a  means  of  great  temptation  to 
him,  he  at  the  same  time  granted  her  a  sufficient  pension  for 
life.  He  also  made  arrangements  for  the  Empress  to  be 
introduced  to  him  again  on  his  return  to  his  Capital,  with  a  view 
to  their  honourable  union,  which  has  since  taken  place  much 
to  their  comfort  and  satisfaction. 


(ii.)     MINUTE  OF  THE  MEETING  FOR  SUFFERINGS 

RESPECTING  FRIENDS'  INTERVIEW  WITH 

THE  EMPEROR  OF  RUSSIA. 

When  the  Friends  appointed  presented  the  address  to  the 
Emperor,  he  received  them  with  a  look  of  benignity  as  Friends 
rather  than  strangers. 

He  was  evidently  desirous  of  employing  the  time  in  con 
versation  on  the  doctrine  and  practices  of  the  Society,  on  which 
subjects  he  put  many  judicious  questions,  and  appeared  well 
satisfied  from  the  answers  he  received.  He  inquired  whether  we 
suffered  from  government  on  account  of  our  religious  principles, 
and  seemed  to  be  pleased  when  informed  that  we  were  protected 
and  even  favoured,  and  that  tho'  still  under  some  suffering  on 
account  of  tithes  &c.,  they  were  comparatively  light.  He  inquired 
whether  we  were  admitted  to  employments  under  government, 
and  seemed  surprised  when  told  that  we  were  excluded  by  the 
Oaths  and  Tests,  remarking  however  that  we  were  thereby 
excused  from  the  trouble  attending  such  stations. 

Among  these  interesting  topics  the  general  education  of  the 
poor,  and  the  Slave  Trade,  were  introduced  ;  on  those  subjects 
he  gave  proof  of  possessing  the  genuine  feelings  of  a  Christian. 
He  asked  why  none  of  our  friends  had  come  into  his  dominions 

26 


370  EDWARD  PEASE. 

on  a  religious  account ;  and  said  in  an  affectionate  manner, 
"  If  any  of  them  should  go  into  my  country  on  that  ground, 
do  not  let  them  wait  for  an  introduction,  but  come  directly  to 
me  at  Petersburgh." 

He  remarked,  on  the  Friends  withdrawing,  that  he  should 
never  forget  the  opportunity  ;  and,  taking  them  by  the  hand, 
said,  "  I  part  from  you  as  Friends  and  brethren."  The  interview 
lasted  about  an  hour  :  it  was  a  memorable  one  to  the  Friends 
who  had  the  privilege  of  waiting  on  him ;  their  hearts  were  warmed 
by  it,  and  they  cannot  but  desire  his  preservation  in  the  divine 
fear,  and  that  a  life  so  valuable  may  be  long  continued. 


(iii.)    T.  CLARKSON'S  ACCOUNT  OF  HIS  INTERVIEW 
WITH  THE  EMPEROR  OF  RUSSIA,  AT  PARIS. 

AN  ACCOUNT  OF  T.   C's.    INTERVIEW  WITH   THE  EMPEROR  OF 
RUSSIA  AT  PARIS,  ON  SATURDAY,  23  SEPTEMBER,   1815. 

When  I  arrived  at  Paris,  the  Emperor  had  just  left  it  to  re 
view  his  armies,  on  the  plains  of  Vertus,  which  journey  occupied 
some  days. 

On  his  return  to  Paris  I  wrote  him  a  letter.  I  stated  in  this 
in  substance,  that  having  heard  that  when  he  was  in  London, 
from  the  Duke  of  Glocester,  from  Mr.  Wilberforce,  Sir  Robt. 
Wilson,  and  from  those  three  good  men  of  the  Religious  Society 
of  the  Quakers,  viz  Mr.  Grillette,  Wilkinson,  and  Allen  (to  whom 
he  granted  an  audience  for  three  hours)  of  the  interest  which  he 
(the  Emperor)  had  taken  in  the  cause  of  the  unhappy  Africans, 
I  had  sent  him  a  complete  set  of  my  works  through  the  hands 
of  Lady  Warren  which  she  delivered  to  Count  Nesselrode,  as  a 
small  Testimony  of  the  esteem  and  respect  I  felt  for  him  on  that 
account  but  that  on  a  further  consideration  of  the  subject  I 
had  not  felt  satisfied  with  myself,  and  knowing  that  he  was  at 
Paris  (which  was  comparatively  but  a  small  distance)  I  had  deter 
mined  to  go  thither  in  person  to  thank  him  for  all  his  efforts  in 
behalf  of  this  injured  People,  and  to  implore  (should  any  future 
opportunity  offer)  a  continuance  of  his  favour  towards  them. 

This  letter  I  carried  to  the  Baroness  Krnderer,  a  Russian  Lady 
of  Quality  and  sat  and  conversed  with  her  on  the  subject  for 
nearly  an  hour.  The  Baroness  is  a  Lady  of  the  most  exemplary 


APPENDIX  VII.  371 

piety.  She  devotes  her  time  to  religion.  The  Emperor  of 
Russia  generally  calls  upon  her  every  evening  at  7  o'clock,  to 
converse  on  Spiritual  subjects. 

It  was  on  this  account  I  carried  my  letter  to  her,  together 
with  one  from  the  Duke  of  Glocester  to  the  Emperor,  which  was 
intended  as  an  introduction  of  me  to  the  latter  personage.  The 
Baroness  assured  me  that  she  would  deliver  them  both  into  his 
majesty's  hands,  as  soon  as  she  should  see  him. 

In  the  course  of  two  days  I  received  a  message  from  the  Baron 
ess,  that  the  Emperor  had  received  and  read  both  of  the  letters 
in  her  presence  and  that  he  was  apparently  much  pleased  with 
them.  He  desired  her  to  instruct  me  to  thank  the  Duke  of  Glocester 
for  his  letter  of  introduction  of  me  to  him  ;  and  with  respect  to 
my  own  letter,  that  part  of  it  gave  him  peculiar  satisfaction, 
wherein  I  had  mentioned  the  names  of  those  three  good  men, 
whose  conversation  had  so  much  interested  him  when  in  London. 
He  desired  her  to  add,  he  was  then  exceedingly  occupied  but  that 
in  a  short  time  he  would  make  an  arrangement  to  see  me.  On 
Friday  22nd,  of  September  I  received  a  message  from  the  Lady 
Krnderer,  that  the  Emperor  desired  my  attendance  at  her  house 
the  next  day  at  n  in  the  morning.  Accordingly  I  attended, 
expecting  to  find  him  there  ;  but  it  appeared  that  he  had  sent  there 
one  of  his  domestic  servants,  to  shew  me  the  way  to  him.  This 
servant  I  followed  closely  to  the  Palais  des  Bourbons.  When 
arrived  there  he  conducted  me  through  several  rooms,  and  at 
length  left  me  in  a  spacious  apartment,  in  which  were  two  or 
three  Prussian  Officers,  on  guard  for  the  day.  Here  I  remained 
some  time,  when  another  of  his  domestics  came  up,  and  desired 
me  to  follow  him  ;  he  led  me  through  three  other  rooms,  into  a 
fourth,  in  which  was  a  gentleman  who  said  in  French,  "  The 
Emperor  is  in  the  next  room,  and  expects  you,"  and  immediately 
opened  the  door. 

At  this  time  I  felt  a  little  embarrassed  as  to  what  I  should 
say,  but  was  instantly  relieved  from  this  feeling  by  the  affability 
and  condescension  of  the  Emperor.  He  came  to  meet  me  to  the 
very  Door.  He  then  took  my  hand  into  his  own  and  led  me 
into  the  room,  and  immediately  broke  silence,  by  addressing  me 
in  English.  He  said  (still  continuing  my  hand  in  his  own)  that 
he  considered  I  had  done  him  honour,  by  coming  from  England 
expressly  to  visit  him.  He  was  not  in  the  habit  of  making 
compliments  ;  he  meant  what  he  said  ;  he  should  not  easily 
forget  my  visit ;  I  had  only  done  him  justice  when  I  considered 


372  EDWARD  PEASE. 

him  to  be  the  friend  of  the  poor  Africans.  He  had  always  been 
an  enemy  to  the  Trade  ;  he  had  indeed  known  nothing  more  of  it 
than  other  people  :  he  knew  only  that  the  Africans  were  taken 
from  their  country  against  their  wills  and  that  they  were  trans 
ported  to  the  colonies  of  Foreigners,  for  whom  they  were  made  to 
work  under  a  system  commonly  reputed  cruel ;  but  this  was 
an  outrage  against  nature  ;  and  this  alone  made  him  a  determined 
enemy  to  the  traffic.  But  when  in  after  time  he  had  read  those 
books,  which  furnished  him  with  particulars  on  the  subject,  and 
when  he  had  seen  the  print  of  the  Slave  ship,  he  felt  he  should 
be  unworthy  of  the  high  station  which  he  held,  if  he  had  not  done 
his  utmost  in  all  the  late  political  conferences  on  that  subject  to 
wipe  away  such  a  pestilence  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 

After  this  he  left  go  of  my  hand,  and  we  stood  talking  together 
face  to  face  ;  there  was  not  any  other  person  in  the  Room.  I 
told  him  I  had  long  ago  understood  (as  I  had  had  the  honour  of 
informing  him  in  my  letter)  that  his  disposition  towards  the 
oppressed  Africans  had  been  such  as  I  had  now  the  satisfaction 
of  learning  from  his  own  mouth  ;  that  this  kind  disposition 
towards  them  was  generally  known,  and  duly  appreciated  by  the 
friends  of  the  cause  in  England  ;  and  that  it  had  given  them 
pleasure  beyond  measure  to  find  that  this  injured  people  had  so 
powerful  a  Protector  and  Friend  ;  and  that  I  did  not  doubt  but 
he  (the  Emperor),  should  any  future  opportunity  offer)  would 
continue  to  advocate  their  cause.  He  replied  he  would  never 
desert  it.  In  the  original  treaty  with  France  he  had  taken  a  very 
active  part  in  their  behalf,  but  the  obstacles  were  so  very  great 
on  the  part  of  the  French  Government,  which  at  that  time  had 
great  and  extravagant  colonial  systems  in  prospect,  that  he  found 
it  impossible  to  realize  his  wishes.  In  a  period  succeeding  this, 
viz.  during  the  congress  at  Vienna,  he  had  exerted  himself  again  ; 
he  had  united  with  the  British  minister  in  their  favour,  and 
though  new  and  great  obstacles  had  risen  up  on  the  part  of  other 
nations,  concerned  in  this  infamous  traffic,  he  trusted  that  some 
farther  advantage  had  been  gained  then,  something  like  the 
foundation  of  a  new  treaty  had  been  laid  there  ;  and  at  a  sub 
sequent  period,  viz.,  since  his  last  arrival  in  Paris,  he  had  again 
taken  up  the  cause  and  in  conjunction  with  the  British  minister, 
he  had  been  so  successful,  that  France  had  agreed  to  give  up  the 
remaining  term  of  four  years'  continuance  of  the  Trade  ;  so  that 
another  nation  had  been  added  to  the  list  of  those  who  have 
abandoned  the  infamous  Trade. 


APPENDIX  VII.  373 

I  replied  that  we  were  all  of  us  sensible  that  great  things  had 
been  done,  for  which  we  could  not  be  too  thankful,  and  that  he 
(the  Emperor)  had  been  a  most  powerful  instrument  under 
Providence  in  accomplishing  them  ;  but  those  in  England  who 
had  been  the  means  of  developing  and  bringing  to  light  the  mass 
of  Crime  and  suffering  contained  in  the  Slave  Trade,  and  whose 
feelings  had  been  more  than  ordinarily  excited  on  the  subject,  and 
which  feelings  perhaps  had  led  them  to  be  too  sanguine  in  their 
expectations,  had  been  disappointed  (I  hoped  his  majesty  would 
excuse  the  freedom  with  which  I  was  going  to  speak)  I  then 
resumed,  had  been  disappointed  at  finding  that  the  allied  Sover 
eigns  at  the  Congress  of  Vienna  had  not  proclaimed  the  Slave 
Trade  to  be  Piracy  ;  this  would  have  been  a  noble  declaration, 
in  the  face  of  the  whole  world,  in  favour  of  Justice  and  Religion, 
and  it  would  have  accorded  with  their  principles  as  governors, 
which  all  of  them  were  obliged  to  confess  in  the  daily  administra 
tion  of  their  respective  governments,  they  were  all  of  them  obliged 
to  punish,  and  thus  to  try  to  put  an  end  to  Robbery  and  Murder. 
This  was  essentially  necessary,  or  their  governments  could  not  go 
on ;  but  the  slave  Trade  was  a  complication  of  Robbery  and  Murder ; 
and  it  was  deeply  to  be  lamented  in  my  opinion,  under  this  and 
every  other  view  of  the  subject,  that  such  noble  Decree  had  been 
overlooked. 

The  Emperor  with  great  condescension  admitted  the  truth  of 
what  I  had  said.  He  admitted  that  it  would  have  been  more 
worthy  of  the  Congress  to  have  passed  the  decree  now  mentioned  ; 
and  moreover  that  the  continuance  of  the  Slave  Trade  by  the 
Allies  was  at  variance  with  their  principles  as  governors.  But  we 
could  not  cure  great  and  inveterate  evils  at  once.  Besides,  the 
difficulties  at  Vienna  were  much  greater  than  I  had  any  notion 
of.  The  Decree  which  I  had  suggested  might  have  passed  if 
some  of  the  most  powerful  of  the  Sovereigns  had  agreed  upon  it, 
and  if  at  the  same  time  they  agreed  upon  it  to  use  force.  But  the 
Congress  of  Vienna  consisted  of  Sovereigns  united  and  in  alliance 
for  one  great  object,  the  future  safety,  peace,  and  Tranquillity  of 
Europe,  where  harmony  was  essentially  necessary,  as  far  as  it 
could  be  obtained.  This  harmony  must  have  been  broken,  if 
such  a  Decree  had  been  persisted  in.  He  trusted  that,  however, 
our  great  object  would  be  finally  accomplished,  in  consequence 
of  what  had  already  taken  place.  Indeed  he  did  not  doubt  it. 
Great  progress  had  already  been  made.  A  new  nation  (France) 
had  come  fully  into  the  measure.  He  did  not  doubt,  from  what 


374  EDWARD  PEASE. 

he  had  seen  and  heard,  that  Spain  and  Portugal  would  follow. 
If  any  other  exertions  were  necessary  on  his  part,  it  was  only  for 
us  to  point  them  out,  and  he  should  attend  to  our  suggestions 
on  the  principle  of  Duty.  I  might  return  to  England  with  the 
assurance  that  he  would  never  desert  the  injured  Africans.  He 
would  never  disappoint  our  hopes,  and  if  I  myself  as  one  of  the 
individuals  who  had  laboured  in  that  glorious  cause,  should  be 
disposed  to  write  to  him,  I  was  at  liberty  so  to  do  :  but  I  must 
write  to  him  freely,  and  as  a  friend  acting  in  union  for  the  same 
great  cause.  He  added,  "  I  trust  we  have  so  laboured  in  Con 
gress,  that  the  result  will  be  very  satisfactory  to  all  Christian 
people."  This  last  sentence  was  uttered  after  a  pause,  as  if  it 
had  come  out  unexpectedly,  so  that  I  was  at  a  loss  to  determine, 
whether  it  related  to  the  Slave  Trade,  or  to  some  arrangements 
in  the  Congress  at  Paris,  respecting  religious  toleration,  or  any 
other  religious  subject. 

While  I  was  reflecting  upon  it,  the  Emperor  turned  to  another 
subject,  and  asked  how  Mr.  Allen,  Mr.  Wilkinson,  and  Mr.  Grillette 
were,  and  where  they  now  were.  I  replied  that  the  two  former 
were  in  England,  and  were  well  when  I  last  saw  them,  but  that  the 
latter  had  gone  home  to  America,  to  the  Bosom  of  his  Family. 

The  Emperor  then  said,  that  the  two  hours  conversation 
which  he  held  with  them  in  London,  were  among  the  most  agree 
able  hours  which  he  had  spent  in  England.  The  religious  oppor 
tunity  which  he  then  had  with  them  had  made  a  very  serious 
impression  upon  his  mind,  such  an  one  he  believed  that  he  should 
never  forget  it.  And  he  could  not  but  have  a  high  regard  for  the 
society  to  which  three  such  good  men  belonged.  With  respect 
to  the  Society  itself,  it  seemed  as  if  its  members  (taking  in  the 
plainness  of  Dress  and  appearance,  and  the  simplicity  and  yet 
independence  of  their  manners)  approached  nearer  the  primitive 
Christians  than  any  other  people.  He  might  say  the  same  of  their 
Doctrine.  The  first  great  doctrine  of  the  influence  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  was  the  very  corner  stone  of  Religion.  Here  he  abruptly 
asked  me  if  I  myself  were  a  Quaker  :  I  replied  I  was  not  in  name 
but  I  hoped  in  Spirit.  I  was  nine  parts  out  of  ten  of  their  way  of 
thinking.  They  had  been  fellow-labourers  with  me  in  our  great 
cause,  and  the  more  I  had  known,  the  more  I  had  loved  them. 
The  Emperor  (putting  his  hand  to  his  breast)  said,  "  I  embrace 
them  more  than  any  other  people,  I  consider  myself  as  one  of 
them."  I  told  him  that  as  he  had  such  a  predilection  for  the 
Quakers,  I  could  furnish  him  with  one  or  two  anecdotes  which  I 


APPENDIX  VII.  375 

had  no  doubt  would  please  him  to  hear  ;  but  more  particularly 
if  he  had  not  heard  them  before.  His  predecessor,  Peter  the 
Great,  had  professed  an  attachment  to  the  Quakers,  similar  to 
what  he  had  just  expressed.  He  was  acquainted  with  the  great 
Wm.  Penn,  and  others  of  the  first  founders  of  the  Society,  and 
when  he  worked  in  the  Dockyards  at  Deptford,  in  order  to  learn 
practically  the  rudiments  of  naval  architecture,  he  frequently 
attended  the  Quaker's  meeting  house  there,  where  he  conducted 
himself  with  all  due  Solemnity  and  Decorum.  The  Emperor 
said  he  had  heard  this  anecdote  before.  I  said  that  with  his 
permission  I  would  relate  another.  This  same  Peter  the  Great, 
about  sixteen  years  after  he  had  left  England,  went  with  an 
army  to  Fredericks  tad  t.  On  his  arrival  there  one  of  his  first 
Questions  was  whether  there  were  any  of  those  good  men  the 
Quakers  in  the  place  ;  and  being  told  there  was,  he  signified  his 
intention  of  attending  one  of  their  meetings.  He  accordingly 
attended  accompanied  by  his  suite.  He  heard  the  discourse 
which  followed  with  great  attention  and  interest,  and  bestowed 
his  commendations  upon  it.  He  (the  Emperor)  might  remember 
this  was  precisely  his  own  case,  when  he  attended  the  Quakers' 
Meeting  house  in  St.  Martin's  Lane,  so  that  he  had  probably, 
without  knowing  it,  trodden  in  the  footsteps  of  his  great  pre 
decessor. 

The  Emperor  thanked  me  for  this  anecdote,  which  was  new  to 
him,  and  said  he  could  not  follow  a  better  example  than  Peter  the 
Great,  and  desired  to  follow  him  in  whatever  he  had  done  that  was 
good.  He  then  asked  me  if  Mr.  Wilkinson  were  of  any  profession. 
I  replied  Mr.  Wilkinson  was  a  minister  of  the  gospel  and  devoted 
himself  to  his  religious  profession,  but  Mr.  Allen  was  in  trade,  but 
he  spent  his  time  usually  in  doing  good.  Here  I  could  not  resist 
the  impulse  I  felt  to  do  justice  to  the  character  of  my  friend,  by  an 
eulogium  which  however  high  it  might  appear  it  did  not  exceed  the 
bounds  of  truth  ;  after  which  I  said  that  of  the  many  objects 
which  occupied  Mr.  Allen's  attention  that  of  forming  public 
schools  was  among  the  foremost ;  and  that  I  knew  he  wished 
similar  establishments  might  be  formed  in  his  (the  Emperor's) 
Dominions. 

He  replied  abruptly  that  he  supposed  I  knew  that  there  were 
schools  in  Russia.  But  perhaps  they  were  not  on  so  improved  a 
plan  as  those  in  England. 

I  answered  him  by  saying  the  Difference  laid  there.  I  then 
said  a  few  words  on  the  mechanism  of  the  English  schools,  and 


376  EDWARD  PEASE. 

that  in  consequence  of  the  great  number  of  Boys,  which  one 
master  could  teach,  education  became  cheap  ;  so  as  to  be  even 
within  the  reach  of  the  Poor. 

I  then  enlarged  on  the  benefit  of  education.  I  observed  that 
his  own  empire  was  great  and  powerful  but  what  would  it  be  if  his 
subjects  were  improved  by  a  wise  and  universal  education  ?  his 
empire  would  be  more  powerful,  more  happy,  and  more  permanent. 
Nothing  would  so  much  contribute  to  make  his  subjects  useful, 
virtuous,  and  happy,  as  an  acquaintance  with  the  Truths  of  the 
Gospel,  and  education,  in  as  much  as  it  taught  them  to  read,  was 
one  of  the  outward  means  of  enabling  them  to  know  these  Truths. 
In  this  point  of  view,  these  schools  were  of  inestimable  value. 

He  replied  that  there  was  no  sure  means  of  foundation  for 
Peace,  order,  and  happiness  among  men  but  the  Christian  Reli 
gion,  and  added  "  that  is  quite  as  necessary  for  Kings  as  for 
people." 

I  then  informed  him  that  Allen  and  those  who  laboured  with 
him  on  this  subject  were  not  labouring  for  a  private  and  partial 
good.  Their  views  extended  to  the  whole  world,  and  for  this 
purpose  they  were  educating  foreigners  of  different  nations  to 
qualify  them  to  carry  the  British  system  of  Education  into  the 
Countries  to  which  they  severally  belonged.  They  had  lately 
educated  one  from  Denmark,  and  another  from  France,  and  they 
would  be  very  glad  to  educate  one  from  Russia  with  the  same 
design. 

On  hearing  this  the  Emperor  seemed  well  pleased  and  said 
"  you  may  be  sure  that  I  should  be  glad  to  promote  the  system 
in  Russia." 

He  said  he  was  sorry  to  take  his  leave  of  me  so  soon,  but  he 
had  more  engagements  than  he  feared  he  could  perform  while  he 
staid  in  Paris.  He  added,  "  remember  me  kindly  to  Mr.  Allen 
and  his  good  friends  the  Quakers,  and  tell  Mr.  Allen  that  I  wish 
him  to  write  to  me  on  the  subjects  of  his  schools.  He  may  depend 
upon  my  countenance  in  Russia.  He  then  took  hold  of  my  hand 
again  and  said,  "  my  best  wishes  accompany  you  to  England, 
and  if  I  can  at  any  time,  be  useful  to  the  cause  of  the  poor  Africans, 
you  may  always  have  my  services  by  writing  me  a  letter." 


APPENDIX  VIII. 

Vide  p.  83. 


GROWTH    OF    THE    PORT    OF    MIDDLESBROUGH. 

1805.     Meeting  held  at   Stockton   for  considering  the  im 
provement  of  the  River  Tees. 

1808-1828.     Acts  obtained  by  the  Tees  Navigation  Company 
to  shorten  the  channel  from  Stockton  to  the  Tees. 

1828.  Act  for  a  railway  extension  from  Stockton  to  Middles 
brough  for  shipping  coals  nearer  the  sea  and  in  deeper 
water. 

1829.  The  Middlesbrough  Estate  purchased  by : — 

Edward  Pease,  of  Darlington. 
Joseph  Pease,  of  Darlington. 
Thomas  Richardson,  of  Great  Ayton. 
Henry  Birkbeck,  of  Norwich. 
Francis  Gibson,  of  Saffron  Walden. 
Simon  Martin,  of  Norwich. 

1830.  The  first  house  built  at  Middlesbrough  by  George 
Chapman    [an    old    farmhouse    was    there    already, 
belonging  to  the  Parringtons]. 

1831.  The  Railway  opened  to  Middlesbrough.     Population, 
154- 

1832.  The  ship  Sunniside  loaded  the  first  cargo  of  coals  at 
Middlesbrough. 

1834.     The  first  steamer  on  the  Tees,  The  Majestic,  commenced 
running  between  Middlesbrough  and  London. 

377 


378 


EDWARD  PEASE. 


1841.  Population  5,463. 

1842.  The  first  dock  (eleven  acres)  built. 

1851.  The  first  train  of  Eston  Cleveland  Iron  Stone  loaded 
to  be  smelted  at  Witton  Park  Works,  near  Bishop 
Auckland.     Population,  7,631. 

1852.  The  Tees  placed  under  a  Commission. 

1853.  Middlesbrough    Incorporated.      Middlesbrough     and 
Guisbrough  Railway  opened.     Rail  connection  com 
pleted  between  the  Ironstone  Mines  of  Cleveland  and 
the  Durham  Coal  Field. 

1854.  Ironstone  shipped  from  the  Tees  to  the  Tyne. 
1861.     Population,  18,892. 

1871.  Population,  39,284. 
1881.  Population,  55,288. 
1891.  Population,  75,516. 


APPENDIX  IX. 

Vide  p.  97. 


In  connection  with  the  commencement  of  the  first 
railway,  and  starting  No.  i  Locomotive,  the  following 
is  a  quaint  letter  giving  the  history  from  a  labourer's 
point  of  view  : 

To  henry  Pease  esq. — in  1822  thomas  Law  Robert 
Peacock  james  Wade  edward  Bainbridge  and  Robert 
Metcalfe  myself  comence  making  the  line  from  Stockton  to 
shildon  we  started  off  below  Earlynook  I  continued  on  with 
them  untill  a  disunt  relation  on  mine  took  a  contract  from 
whiley  hill  to  heighten  lane  it  came  on  wet  on  friday  night 
and  rained  all  day  Saturday  Myers  flat  batery  was  a  4  foot 
metal  on  monday  morning  battery  went  down  and  blow  pete 
earth  mountain  high  company  men  was  many  week  levying 
(?  leveling)  as  we  were  going  through  codling  cut  there  was  a 
slide  came  down  and  broke  both  my  legs  and  collar  bone 
old  Mr  fothergill  was  company  docter  and  he  attended  me  at  8 
week  end  I  was  out  then  and  upon  works  but  was  not  able 
to  work  at  that  time  I  was  ganner  for  my  cousin  when  I  was 
weary  of  standing  I  sat  down  and  could  look  after  the  men 
the  company  aloud  2d  a  yard  premen  money  he  never  could 
get  out  a  thousand  yards  untill  he  engaged  me  he  used  to 
work  hard  himself  I  told  him  if  it  would  not  pay  him  to  let 
the  working  alone  and  look  after  men  job  was  good  for  nothing 
well  he  said  I  cannot  help  I  must  be  working  he  said  I  wish 
you  would  look  after  men  I  said  I  will  but  I  must  have  some 
money  we  started  off  at  monday  morning  after  pay  I  begun 
to  lie  men  on  there  was  a  certain  man  from  Hayselby  he  used 

379 


EDWARD  PEASE. 

some  ill  discurse  to  me  I  ask  him  to  come  this  way  we  could 
do  without  such  men  as  him  I  payed  him  off  it  then  made  all 
the  other  men  take  notice  of  what  I  said  company  payed  every 
fortnight  at  fridays  Mr  Dixon  was  a  second  engine  here  from 
Stockton  to  heighton  lane  Mr  Story  was  a  second  ingin  here 
from  heighton  lane  to  shildon  Mr  Stephenson  (i.e.  Geo.  Step 
henson)  was  the  head  ingine  here  over  the  whole  line  the  first 
fortnight  that  I  comenced  gannership  we  got  2  thousand 
yards  that  first  fortnight  I  dare  say  you  have  your  books  to 
fore  that  explain  that  ours  was  the  last  cut  but  of  being 
finished  Robert  Hutchinson  contracter  was  2  days  after  us 
they  had  a  deal  of  rock  to  go  through  between  timpasters  and 
thickley .  No.  i  came  to  heighton  lane  by  road  we  had  to  get 
her  on  the  way  when  we  got  her  on  the  way  we  pump  water 
into  her  we  sent  John  taylor  for  a  lantern  and  candle  to 
acliffe  when  we  done  that  I  thought  I  would  have  my  pipe  it 
was  a  very  warm  day  though  it  been  back  end  of  the  year  I 
took  me  pipe  glass  and  let  me  pipe  I  thouhgt  to  myself  I  would 
try  to  put  fire  to  Jimmy  ockam  it  blaaze  away  well  the  fire 
going  rapidly  lantern  and  candle  was  to  no  use  so  No.  i  fire 
was  put  to  her  on  line  by  the  pour  of  the  sun  8  waggons  was  as 
many  she  could  trail  Mr.  Dixons  contractor  and  labours  on 
the  open  out  day  dine  at  the  three  tuns  Darlington  James 
Stephenson  and  Wm.  creed  firemen  and  James  Stephenson 
engine  driver  Robert  Morrer  did  not  come  for  a  month  or  two 
after  line  was  open  out  when  Manchester  and  liverpool  line 
was  open  out  Wm  Creed  whent  to  run  Mr  Hackforth  engine 
and  he  never  came  down  here  more  when  No  I  Engine  was 
put  on  to  yon  Mount  afront  the  station  *  there  was  a  great 
deal  discushion  about  her  I  could  condicked  them  in  many 
words  but  I  thought  it  was  not  my  place  to  do  so  she  all  in  a 
original  state  excepting  the  tender  it  was  a  water  barrel  put 
on  to  top  on  an  end  on  a  muck  waggon  and  she  travled  as  nigh 
as  I  can  tell  for  2  years  before  she  got  a  proper  tender  I  left  the 
railway  and  whent  to  old  Mr  Listers  I  was  20  years  under  him 
and  then  he  died  and  the  shop  stood  for  a  year  and  then  I 

*  No.  i.  Locomotive  now  stands  on  the  North  Eastern  Railway  Go's, 
platform  at  Darlington,  it  formerly  stood  outside  the  Darlington  North 
Road  Station  on  a  pedestal. 


APPENDIX  IX.  381 

went  to  Mr  Kitching  Esq  I  was  ther  a  year  and  then  James 
Lister  started  and  I  went  back  to  him  I  was  3  year  with  him 
and  he  died  and  then  Mr  Harris  Esq  took  the  shop  for  15 
years  I  was  7  year  with  Mr  Harris  Esq  that  makes  me  30  years 
at  that  shop  and  a  year  with  Mr  Kitching  Esq  that  make  me 
31  year  of  that  branch  thomas  Sumerson  was  the  manager 
man  for  Mr  Harris  esq  should  you  fall  in  with  Thomas  sum- 
merson  I  belive  that  you  find  all  right  what  I  said  I  am  now 
in  my  77  years 

I  remain  yours  truly 

ROBERT  METCALF 

ii  church  st 
Darlington 


APPENDIX  X. 

Vide  p.  log. 


In  the  old  days  before  tailors  had  shops  in  the  provinces  it 
was  the  custom  among  country  people  to  buy  the  materials 
and  have  a  tailor  in  the  house  till  he  made  the  suits  required. 
The  following  may  be  of  interest,  as  showing  what  went  to 
make  a  quaker  coat  for  Edward  Pease  in  the  year  of  grace 
1809  :— 


Sup. fine 

Calico 

Black  hold 

Padding 

Fustion 

Shalloon 

Canvass 

Facing 

Buckm. 


3 
3 

4 
12 
24 


Metal  Buttons 
Dozen   Silk 
Dozen  Twist 
Oz.  Thread 
Kntts.  Tape 
Large  Modes 
Small  Modes 
Nail  (vd-s)  ? 


382 


SAMUEL    CAPPER. 

From  the  original  silhouette  by  S.  .Met ford. 


APPENDIX  XL 


DR.  JOHNSON'S  ATTITUDE  TOWARDS  QUAKERS. 

I  received  this  year  from  Mr.  David  Richardson,  of 
Newcastle-on-Tyne,  the  following  curious  account  of  a 
conversation  between  Dr.  Johnson  and  Mrs.  Knowles,  which 
he  discovered  amongst  some  old  family  papers,  left  by  George 
Richardson  (b.  1773).  Since  this  came  into  my  hands  I  have 
seen  another  version  of  this  contention  published  in  "  The 
Lloyds  of  Birmingham  "  from  which  it  appears  that  the  Miss 
Harry,  the  object  of  the  Doctor's  uncharitable  denunciation, 
was  acting  as  governess  at  "  Farm  "  to  the  Lloyd  family. 
The  version  in  "The  Lloyds  of  Birmingham"  is  taken  from  the 
Gentleman's  Magazine  for  June,  1791.  That  supplied  me  by 
Mr.  D.  Richardson  is  sufficiently  interesting  in  where  it  differs 
from  and  where  it  confirms  the  earlier  published  one  as  to 
deserve  attention. 


EXTRACT  OF  A  LETTER  FROM  Miss  SEWARD  TO  MR.  BOSWELL 
ON  THE  SUBJECT  OF  DR.  JOHNSON. 

You  ask  me  for  the  minutes  I  once  made  of  a  certain  conversa 
tion  which  passed  at  Mrs  Ditty's  in  a  literary  party  and  in  which 
Dr.  Johnson  and  Mrs  Knowles  disputed  so  earnestly.  As  you 
seem  to  have  an  idea  of  inserting  this  dispute  in  your  future 
meditated  work  (the  Life  of  Johnson),  it  is  necessary  that 
something  should  be  known  concerning  the  young  person  who  was 
the  subject  of  it. 

Miss  Jenny  Harry  was  (for  she  is  no  more)  the  daughter  of  a 
rich  planter  in  the  West  Indies.  He  sent  her  over  to  England,  to 

383 


384 


EDWARD  PEASE. 


receive  her  education  in  the  house  of  his  friend  Mr. 


where 


the  ingenuous  Quaker  lady,  Mrs.  Knowles,  was  frequently  a 
visitor.  He  affected  wit,  was  perpetually  rallying  Mrs.  Knowles 
on  the  subject  of  her  Quaker  principles  in  the  presence  of  this 
young,  gentle  and  ingenuous  Miss  Harry,  who,  at  the  age  of 
eighteen,  had  received  what  is  called  a  proper  and  polite  education, 
without  being  much  instructed  in  the  nature  of  grounds  of  her 
religious  belief.  Mrs.  Knowles  was  often  led  into  a  serious  defence 
of  her  devotional  opinions  upon  these  visits  at  Barn-Elms.  You 
know  with  what  clear  and  graceful  eloquence  she  speaks  on  every 
subject.  Her  antagonists  were  shallow  Theologists  and  opposed 
only  idle  and  pointless  raillery  to  deep  and  long  studied  reasoning 
on  the  precepts  of  Scripture,  delivered  in  persuasive  accent  and 
harmonious  language.  Without  any  design  of  making  a  proselyte 
she  gained  one.  Miss  Harry  grew  very  serious,  and  meditated 
perpetually  on  all  which  had  dropped  from  the  lips  of  her  Quaker 
friend,  till  it  appeared  to  her  that  Quakerism  was  true  Christianity. 
Believing  this  she  thought  it  her  duty  to  join,  at  every  hazard 
of  worldly  interest,  that  class  of  worshippers.  On  declaring 
these  sentiments  several  ingenious  clergymen  were  employed  to 
talk  and  argue  with  her — but  we  all  know  the  force  of  first 
impressions  in  Theology,  and  Mrs.  Knowles'  arguments  were  the 
first  she  had  listened  to  on  this  important  theme.  This  young 
lady  was  reasoned  with  and  threatened  in  vain — she  persisted  in 
resigning  her  splendid  expectations  for  what  appeared  to  her  the 
path  of  duty.  Her  father,  on  being  informed  of  her  changing  prin 
ciples,  informed  her  that  she  might  choose  between  an  hundred 
thousand  pounds  and  his  favour  if  she  continued  a  Church  woman, 
or  two  thousand  pounds  and  his  renunciation  if  she  embraced  the 
Quaker  tenets.  She  lamented  her  father's  displeasure,  but 
thanked  him  for  the  pecuniary  alternative,  assuring  him  that  it 
included  all  her  wishes  in  point  of  fortune.  She  soon  after  left  her 
guardian's  house  and  boarded  with  Mrs.  Knowles,  to  whom  she 
often  observed  that  Dr.  Johnson's  displeasure  (whom  she  had  often 
seen  at  her  guardian's  house  and  who  had  always  been  fond  of  her) 
was  amongst  the  greatest  mortifications  of  her  new  situation, 
and  once  she  came  home  in  tears  and  told  her  friend  she  had  met 
Dr.  Johnson  in  the  street  and  ventured  to  ask  how  he  did,  but 
that  he  would  not  deign  to  answer  her,  but  passed  scornfully  on. 
She  added  "  You  are  to  meet  soon  in  a  literary  party,  plead  for 
me."  You  remember  all  our  dining  together  at  Mr.  Ditty's  and 
the  conversation  after  dinner,  which  began  with  Mrs.  Knowles 


APPENDIX  XL  385 

saying,  "  I  am  to  in  treat  thy  indulgence,  Dr.,  towards  a  gentle 
female  to  whom  thou  usest  to  be  kind  and  who  is  unhappy  in  the 
loss  of  that  kindness.  Jenny  Harry  weeps  at  the  consciousness 
that  thou  wilt  not  speak  to  her."  "  Madam,  I  hate  the  odious 
wench  and  desire  that  you  will  not  talk  to  me  about  her."  "  Yet 
what  is  her  crime,  Dr.  ?  "  "  Apostacy,  Madam — apostacy  from 
the  community  in  which  she  was  educated."  "  Surely,  Dr.,  the 
quitting  one  community  for  another  cannot  in  itself  be  a  crime  if 
it  is  done  from  motives  of  conscience.  Hadst  thou  been  educated 
in  the  Romish  Church  I  must  sup  pose  thou  wouldst  have  abjured 
its  errors  and  that  there  must  have  been  merit  in  the  abjuration." 
"  Madam,  if  I  had  been  educated  in  the  Romish  Church,  I  believe 
I  should  have  questioned  my  right  to  quit  the  religion  of  my  fore 
fathers  :  well,  therefore  may  I  hate  the  arrogance  of  a  young 
wench  who  sets  herself  up  for  a  gauge  of  Theological  points,  and 
deserts  the  religion  in  whose  bosom  she  was  nurtured."  "  I  hope 
she  has  not  done  so.  I  hope  the  name  of  Christian  is  not  denied 
to  the  sect."  "  If  the  name  is  not,  madam,  the  common-sense 
is."  "I  will  not  dispute  that  point  with  thee,  it  would  carry  us 
too  far.  Suppose  it  granted  that,  in  the  eyes  of  a  simple  girl,  the 
weaker  arguments  appeared  the  strongest,  her  want  of  better 
judgment  demands  thy  pity,  not  thy  anger."  "  Madam,  it  has 
my  anger,  and  always  will  have  it."  "  Consider,  Doctor  !  she 
must  be  sincere,  consider  what  a  noble  fortune  she  has  sacrificed." 
"  Madam,  madam,  I  have  ever  taught  myself  to  consider  that 
the  association  of  folly  cannot  extenuate  guilt."  "  Ah,  Doctor  ! 
can  we  suppose  the  Deity  will  not  pardon  a  defect  in  judgment 
(if  such  it  should  prove)  in  the  breast,  where  the  desire  of  serving 
Him  according  to  its  desire,  in  Spirit  and  in  Truth,  has  been  a 
preferable  consideration  to  that  of  worldly  interest."  "  Madam, 
I  pretend  not  to  set  bounds  to  the  mercy  of  the  Deity,  but  I  hate 
the  wench  and  shall  ever  hate  her  ;  I  hate  all  impudence,  but  the 
impudence  of  a  chit's  apostacy  I  nauseate."  "  Alas,  Doctor, 
Jenny  is  the  most  timid  creature  breathing,  she  trembles  to  have 
offended  her  parent,  though  so  far  removed  from  his  presence  ; 
she  grieves  to  have  offended  her  guardian,  and  perhaps 
she  grieves  yet  more  to  have  offended  Dr.  Johnson  whom  she 
loved,  admired  and  honoured."  "  Why  then,  madam,  did  she 
not  consult  the  man  she  pretends  to  love,  admire  and  honour, 
upon  her  new-fangled  scruples  ?  If  she  had  looked  up  to  that 
man  with  any  part  of  that  respect  she  professes  she  would  have 
supposed  his  ability  to  judge  of  fit  and  right,  at  least  equal  to  that 

27 


386 


EDWARD  PEASE. 


of  a  raw  wench  just  out  of  her  primer."  "  Ah,  Doctor  !  remember 
it  was  not  among  the  wise  and  learned  that  Christ  selected  his 
disciples.  Jenny  thinks  Dr.  Johnson  great  and  good,  but  she 
also  thinks  the  Gospel  demands  a  simpler  form  of  worship  than 
that  of  the  Established  Church  ;  and  that  it  is  not  in  wit  and 
elegance  to  supersede  the  force  of  what  appears  to  her  a  plain  and 
regular  system,  which  cancels  all  typical  and  mysterious  ceremonies 
as  fruitless  and  idolatrous  and  asks  only  simple  obedience  and  the 
homage  of  a  devout  heart."  "  The  homage  of  a  fool's  head  you 
should  have  said,  Madam,  if  you  will  persist  me  about  this 
ridiculous  wench."  "  Suppose  her  ridiculous,  she  has  been 
religious  and  sincere,  will  the  gate  of  heaven  be  shut  to  ardent 
and  well-meaning  folly,  whose  first  consideration  has  been  that 
of  apprehended  duty  ?  "  "  Pho  !  pho !  who  says  it  will,  madam  ?  " 
"  Then  if  Heaven  does  not  shut  its  gate  shall  man  shut  his  heart  ? 
If  the  Deity  accept  the  homage  of  such  as  sincerely  serve  Him 
under  every  form  of  worship,  Dr.  Johnson  and  this  little  humble 
girl  will,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  meet  in  a  Blessed  Eternity,  whither 
earthly  animosities  must  not  be  carried."  "  Madam,  I  am  not 
fond  of  meeting  fools  anywhere,  they  are  detestable  company,  and 
while  it  is  in  my  power  to  avoid  conversing  with  them  I  shall 
certainly  exert  that  power ;  and  so  you  may  tell  the  odious  wench 
whom  you  have  persuaded  to  believe  herself  a  saint,  and  whom 
soon  you  will,  I  suppose,  convert  into  a  preacher  :  but  I  will  take 
care  she  does  not  preach  to  me."  The  loud  and  angry  tone  in 
which  he  thundered  out  these  replies  to  his  calm  but  able  antagonist 
frightened  us  all  except  yourself,  who  gently,  not  sarcastically, 
smiled  at  Injustice.  I  remember  you  whispered  me,  "  I  never 
saw  this  mighty  Lion  so  chafed  before." 


APPENDIX  XII. 

QUAKERIETIES    FOR    1838. 
BY  AN  EMBRYO  HARVESTMAN. 

[Joseph  John  Gurney.] 

1.  Joseph  John,  Joseph  John 

Thou  sine  qua  non. 
Of  a  certain  religious  Society; 

Thy  bolts  thou  has  hurl'd 

At  a  sceptical  world, 
And  won  what  thou  loved — notoriety. 

Joseph  John, 
And  won  what  thou  loved — notoriety. 

[Samuel  Tuke.] 

2.  Sam  T     .     .     .,  Sammy  T     .     .     . 

I  have  read  thy  rebuke 
Of  Wilkinson's  strange  resignation, 

And  I  own  thou  hast  track'd, 

With  astonishing  tact, 
The  cause  of  his  alienation, 

Sam  T, 
The  cause  of  his  alienation. 

[fames  Backhouse 

3.  James  B  .  .  .  .  James  B  .  .  .  . 

Dispensations*  still  rack  us, 
And  many  their  birthrights  have  sold. 
Yet  we  count  it  no  loss 
To  get  rid  of  the  dross 
While  we  keep  all  the  purified  gold, 
James  B, 

etc. 
*  Dissentings. 

387 


388  EDWARD  PEASE. 

[Elizabeth  Fry.] 

4.  Betsy  F  .  .  .  .  Betsy  F  .  .  .  . 

Where  the  fatherless  lie 
And  the  widows,  we  find  them,  'tis  there 

In  the  prison-house  cell 
That  thy  soft  accents  dwell 
And  the  culprit  exults  in  thy  prayer 

Betsy  Fry, 
And  the  culprit  exults  in  thy  prayer. 

[Samuel  Capper.] 

5.  Sam  C Sam  C  . 

In  person  so  dapper, 
Yet  bold  as  a  lion  in  heart, 

There  are  few  in  thy  city 

Like  thee — more's  the  pity, 
A  true  moral  hero,  thou  art. 

etc. 

6.  Ann  Tweedy,  Ann  Tweedy, 

Thou  friend  of  the  needy, 
I  have  oft  heard  thee  preach  and  admired. 
Yet  learn  from  a  friend 

It  is  safest  to  end 

When  the  people  begin  to  grow  tired. 

etc. 

7.  James  Ireland  Wright 

Like  the  pale  orb  of  night, 
How  mild  and  how  gentle  thou  art, 
Like  the  serpent  thou  'rt  wise 
And  yet,  dove  like,  there  lies 
Nor  venom  nor  sting  in  thy  heart, 

etc. 

8.  Friend  Forster,  Friend  Forster, 

Thou  foe  to  imposture, 
And  Knight  of  the  Yearly  Epistle, 

Fame's  a  very  fine  thing 

If  it  happiness  bring 
And  we  pay  not  too  dear  for  our  whistle, 

etc. 


APPENDIX  XII.  389 

9.  Ann  Grace,  Nanny  Grace, 

Thou  art  out  of  thy  place 
In  the  high  ministerial  ranks. 
Thy  cicero  resign 
For  retailing  whine 

And  the  meeting  will  vote  thee  their  thanks, 

etc. 

[A  sea  captain.] 

10.  Billy  Moyse,  Billy  Moyse, 
Thou  dost  make  a  great  noise, 

But  I  fear  thou  art  out  of  thy  track  ! 

Be  a  little  more  brief, 

And  just  take  in  a  reef 
Or  the  next  squall  may  take  thee  aback. 

etc. 

11.  Luke  Howard,  Luke  Howard 

Why  fretful  and  froward  ? 
Why  leave  us  ?    We  miss  thee  and  thine  now 

And  then,  what  is  worse, 

We  miss  thy  long  purse, 
For  Friends  have  an  eye  to  the  rhino  ! 

etc. 

12.  And  Crewdson  !  Tu  Brute  f 

Is  it  fame  ?  is  it  duty  ? 

That  calls  thee  thus  strangely  away  ? 
If  the  body's  unsound, 
Thou  shouldst  comfort  the  wound 

And  not  leave  it  all  to  decay, 

etc. 

13.  Clare  Smith,  John  Clare  Smith, 

There's  a  vast  deal  of  pith 
In  the  riches  that  fall  from  thy  tongue. 

Thy  satire  is  keen 

Yet  thy  kind  heart  I  ween 
Would  wound  neither  aged  or  young — 

Clare  Smith,  etc. 


390  EDWARD  PEASE. 

14.  Joseph  Gillet  attend 
How  dost  thou  as  a  friend, 

Embossed  in  broad  brim  and  straight  coat, 

Like  an  orthodox  saint 

Suffer  church  rate  distraint 
Yet  give  to  the  church  men  thy  vote  ? 

Eh,  Joseph,  etc. 

15.  Billy  Jones,  Billy  Jones 
In  thy  plain  simple  tones, 

Much  of  true  human  kindness  is  blended, 
And  though  some  may  smile 
At  too  humble  a  style 

We  all  own  them  sweetly  intended, 

etc. 

16.  Joseph  Price,  Joseph  Price, 
Thou  are  mighty  precise, 
Methought  t'  other  night  in  a  dream 

That  thou  really  walked, 
Slept,  ate,  drank,  and  talked, 
And  prayed  every  Sunday  by  steam. 

etc. 

17.  Gawen  Ball,  Gawen  Ball, 
When  delinquencies  pall, 

The  heads  of  our  grave  orthodox, 

Who  like  thee,  can  extend 

The  advice  of  a  Friend 
To  the  sons  and  the  daughters  of  Fox  ? 

etc. 

18.  Harry  Bath,  Harry  Bath, 
The  wild  weary  path 

Of  life  thou  hast  happily  trod, 

Thou  has  opened  thy  door 

To  the  child  of  the  poor, 
And  given  thy  talents  to  God, 

etc. 


APPENDIX  XII.  391 

19.  Ikey  Brown,  Ikey  Brown, 

Relinquish  that  frown, 
And  teach  thy  young  heroes  more  suavity ; 
Boys  cannot  forever 
Be  straining  the  liver 
In  proving  the  centre  of  gravity, 

etc. 


20.  Bob  Eaton,  Bob  Eaton, 
Thou  hast  a  fine  seat  on 

Fair  Cambria's  Halcyon  shore. 

How  I  wish  I  could  play 

At  "  I  promise  to  pay  " 
I  would  build  such  a  fine  Bryn-y-mor  ! 

etc. 

21.  Jim  Gilpin,  Jim  Gilpin, 
My  muse  must  be  limping 

If  ever  she  leaves  thee  astern. 
When  some  heresy  brews 
Thou  wilt  gather  the  news 

And  spin  us  a  glorious  yarn  ! 

etc. 

22.  John  Bailey,  John  Bailey, 
Thou'rt  going  it  gaily  ! 

But  mind  !  keep  thy  weather  eye  open  ! 

For  wedlock  grows  stale 

Like  a  bottle  of  ale, 
And  brides  will  in  time  begin  moping  ! 

etc. 


23.  John  Bell,  Johnny  Bell, 

The  system  works  well 
Though  bitter  as  gall  to  the  pill. 
The  mixture  and  lotion 
They  favour  devotion 
If  they  bring  but  the  grist  to  the  mill, 

etc. 


392  EDWARD  PEASE. 

24.  Billy  Hughes,  Billy  Hughes, 

Mind  thy  Fs  and  thy  Q's, 
And  give  the  dear  ladies  no  quarter  ! 
We  are  some  of  us  winning 
The  good  by  our  linen, 
And  some  by  the  pestal  and  mortar, 

etc. 


25.  Ive  Huntley,  Ive  Huntley, 

They've  treated  thee  bluntly, 
Yet,  sometimes  these  trials  are  given 
To  gather  poor  mortals 
From  flattery's  portals 
And  bind  them  the  closer  to  Heaven, 

etc. 


26.  Hail !  Hail  to  thee  Peace  ! 

Little  Jonathan  Rees 
Thou  multum  in  parvo  displayed 

Although  rather  little 

A  hero  of  metal 
And  quite  an  ironical  blade  ! 

Friend  Jonathan 
Quite  an  ironical  blade. 


27.  Joel  Lean,  Joel  Lean, 

All  acknowledge  thy  sheen 
Yes,  nemine  contradicenti 
And  many  an  urchin 
Hath  learnt  from  thy  birching 
The  force  of  his  as  in  presenti, 

etc.,  etc. 


[?Redland,] 

28.  Ikey  Redwood,  thy  fame 

Often  makes  us  exclaim 


APPENDIX  XII.  393 

0  quantum  mutatus  db  illo  ! 

There's  nothing  like  leather 

For  holding  together 
And  making  a  man  of  a  fellow, 

Ikey  Redwood, 
And  making  a  man  of  a  fellow. 

In  the  printed  pamphlet  no  names  were  given — only 
initials,  though  the  names  of  well  known  friends  were  easy 
enough  to  insert. 


APPENDIX     XIII. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  A  LETTER  FROM  EDWARD  PEASE, 
WRITTEN   FROM   MINDEN,   AUGUST   15™,    1842. 

Minden  8  Mo.  15,  1842. 
My  dearly  Lov'd  Jane  and  Joseph, 

From  landing  at  Ostend  on  the  morn'g  of  4  day  to  reaching 
this  place  on  7  day  at  n,  we  had  close  and  hot  travelling, 
the  distance  about  360  miles  and  such  is  the  size  of  continental 
kingdoms  in  this  part  of  the  world  we  were  in  3  or  4  of  them 
or  close  on  the  borders  of  them,*  Hanover  we  were  very 
near,  and  shall  pass  through  a  part  of  it  on  our  route  from 
this  place  to  Pyrmont  which  I  expect  will  be  on  6  day,  it 
was  your  dear  Uncles  desire  to  have  been  at  meeting  there 
yesterday,  instead  of  this  place,  but  with  all  our  exertions 
and  Styleish  travelling  in  an  old  Lumbering  carriage  with 
3  and  often  4  horses  we  could  not  reach  Pyrmont.  We 
passed  thro'  or  into  many  interesting  cities,  celebrated  in 
history  for  its  seiges,  fortifications,  fine  churches,  pictures 
or  the  residences  of  the  learned  in  bygone  days — I  mean 
Bruges,  Leige,  Aix  la  Chapelle,  Brussells,  Cologne,  but  so 
quick  a  transit  left  us  no  time  to  explore  them  or  their  beauties, 
there  was  either  in  their  curiously  built  antique  houses 
standing  with  their  Gables  to  the  street  with  ancient  inscrip 
tions  and  in  some  cases  a  great  deal  of  fantastic  carveing 
on  them  much  to  admire  or  attract  attention,  many  a  door, 
doorstead,  window  head  or  house  corner  I  should  have  wished 

*  Belgium,    Prussia,     Hanover,    and    in    Bonapartes    time,    this 
Westphalia  was  his  Brothers  Kingdom. 

394 


APPENDIX  XIII.  395 

I  could  possess  to  send  to  enrich  your  Uncle  Gibson's  assem 
blage,  and  I  have  told  Augustus  M,  if  he  sees  such  pulled 
down  to  see  if  he  can  make  any  purchases  and  send  in  a 
Wool  pack  to  Engld.  Many  fine  ancient  churches  were 
attractive  en  passant,  often  in  a  style  of  architecture  quite 
difnt  to  that  class  of  buildings  in  this  country.  We  saw 
the  most  of  by  hiring  a  voitrine  and  driveing  about  for  an 
hour  or  more,  on  a  hot  evening,  to  use  your  Aunt  Backhouse's 
expression,  a  heat  of  84  kept  us  mopping  our  faces. 

We  had  very  little  of  paved  road,  such  as  you  feel  so 
tiresome  in  France,  nearly  all  is  completely  Macadamized, 
and  kept  in  excellent  order,  a  fine  breadth,  always  margined 
with  trees,  interminable  avenues  of  Lombardy  poplars 
similar  in  magnitude  but  taller  than  those  near  the  Mill. 
One  German  mile  is  equal  to  5  English,  and  at  every  quarter 
mile  there  is  a  large  solid  well  cut  stone  rather  Urn-shaped 
marked  J  \  f ,  and  spaced  between  the  quarters  there  are  well 
painted  division  posts  devidg.  each  mile  into  one  hundred, 
so  at  the  end  of  the  first  mile  the  mark  is  i  :  01  :  02  :  till 
the  centimes  are  passed,  and  at  each  i  mile  end  (5  of  ours) 
is  a  pedestal,  on  which  the  spread  Eagle  is  well  cut  and  painted 
black.  Poplars  are  not  the  universal  margin  of  the  road 
in  some  places  miles  of  Mountain  ash  make  it  look  as  far 
as  the  eye  can  see  as  if  lined  with  scarlet,  in  others  miles 
of  cherry  trees,  plums  and  Apples,  fully  loaded  (the  two 
latter)  apples  gd.  p.  Bushl.  The  trees  are  planted  on  the 
turnpike  road  and  not  in  hedgerow,  the  fruit  goes  to  the 
magistrates  or  commissioners. 

The  cultivation  of  the  country  is  good,  being  in  many 
places  in  innumerable  small  patches,  growing  many  descrip 
tions  of  plants  we  seldom  see  cultivated,  flax,  hemp,  Buck 
wheat,  and  Gardiners'  seeds.  Some  endless  fields  of  potatoes, 
they  seem  much  more  cultivated  than  with  us,  to  make 
Brandy  from, — a  sad  purpose  for  such  an  invaluable  root. 
Some  land  is  cultivated  with  the  Sugar  beet,  but  that  trade 
is  said  to  be  declineing,  sugar  is  so  very  low,  4jd.  to  5d.p.  Ib. 
for  good  lump  sugar.  The  Wheat  is  completely  gathered 
in,  but  I  should  suppose  millions  of  acres  of  Oats  and  Barley, 
generally  dead  ripe  not  cut — some  districts  are  all  pasture 


396  EDWARD  PEASE. 

land,  and  I  am  surprizd  to  see  all  so  verdant,  no  parched 
appearance  alt  ho  the  heat  seems  great,  it  is  now  4  OClock, 
and  a  grateful  breeze  comes  into  the  room,  yet  82  is  the 
temperature  in  a  shady  part  where  no  sun  has  been  since 
morng — fine  large  windows  fully  open  and  dear  John  writg 

by  me,  and  also  without  his  coat We  have  not  seen  much 

of  this  town,  but  it  is  the  oldest  looking  place  I  was  ever  in, 
the  houses  some  very  large  and  high,  nearly  all  stand  with 
the  Gable  to  the  street  and  being  full  of  windows  to  the 
very  top  with  curious  immagery  and  carving  have  a  singular 
effect — the  town  is  walled,  many  ditches  and  bridges,  I  think 
we  came  through  5  archways  of  town  walls  and  before  we 
reached  this  Inn  ;  the  people  are  very  civil,  the  beds  little 
low  things  are  good  and  clean,  the  house  moderately  so, 
the  table  d'hote  good  not  excelling  what  I  have  seen,  we 
were  upwards  20  to  day,  but  as  they  all  spoke  German  we 
formed  no  acquaintance  with  any  one,  there  was  an  intelli 
gible  civility  towards  us  and  that  was  all — this  house  is  situate 
in  a  narrow  street,  but  the  rooms  are  lofty  and  commodious, 
opposite  to  it  is  a  wide  Gateway  which  from  day  break  to 
breakfast  time  was  ocupied  most  annoyingly  to  me,  3  or 
4  men  and  I  woman  were  thrashing  in  it  with  a  discription 
of  flail  very  difnt  to  that  in  use  with  us,  and  from  the  swinge 
ing  end  of  it  being  a  peice  of  board  about  3  inches  broad, 
and  beating  the  grain  in  unison,  as  boiler  makers  strike  in 

unison  makes  a  very  sleep  destroying  noise we  are  not 

far  from  the  margin  of  the  Weiser,  it  is  a  very  fine  river, 
yet  after  seeing  the  Rhine  seems  unimportant,  it  seems 
about  twice  the  breadth  of  the  Thames  at  London  bridge, 
but  not  navigable  for  such  large  vessels,  the  views  from  the 
bridge  looking  to  the  vast  woods  of  Westphalia  are  fine- 
but  we  see  no  large  timber  trees  any  where  tis  probable 
the  extreme  cold  of  their  winters  which  seems  to  prevent 
their  having  Laurels  Rhododendrons  etc  may  be  unfriendly 
to  timber — Common  fruit  seems  plentiful,  some  Grapes  and 
immense  melons  have  been  noticed  by  us — having  endeavord 
my  precious  Grandchildren  to  give  you  an  outline  of  what 
eyes  have  seen,  and  mind  has  thought  on  some  points,  I  would 
hope  you  have  some  interest  in  your  beloved  Uncles  mission 


APPENDIX  XIII.  397 

and  I  wish  that  interest  to  increase,  so  I  will  give  you  a  general 
view  of  our  proceedgs  the  kind  and  invaluable  helper  Augustus 
Mundick  who  met  us  at  Cologne  is  so  essential  to  us,  I  know 
not  how  we  could  have  got  on  without  him,  is  our  interpreter, 
he  speaks  English  with  fluency  and  correctness,  and  answers 
your  uncles  purpose  in  meetings  and  families  admirably. 

We  meet  with  a  kind  and  welcome  reception  from  all 
frds  as  their  cheerful  countenances  indicate,  and  their  ex 
pressions  through  our  interpreter,  but  it  is  disappointing 
beyond  what  you  can  conceive  to  be  in  companies  and  unable 
to  express  a  word — I  hope  my  dear  children  you  will  keep 
and  increase  your  German,  that  when  you  make  the  tour 
of  the  Rhine  you  may  not  experience  the  want  we  feel ; 
who  knows  but  it  may  be  your  or  one  of  your  Lots  to  come  on 
an  errand  similar  to  your  dear  Uncles  who  I  believe  has  daily 
a  reward  of  heavenly  peace,  a  peace  which  I  desire  above 
all  things  concerning  you,  and  in  order  to  your  gaining  this 
inestimable  treasure  let  me  entreat  you  my  dearly  loved 
Ones  to  be  obedient  to  the  witness  for  truth  in  your  own 
bosoms,  it  is  no  other  than  the  blessed  influence  of  the  spirit 
of  our  Lord  it  may  and  will  point  out  to  you  things  contrary 
to  your  own  wills,  but  this  taking  up  the  daily  cross  and  daily 
watching  unto  prayer  will  crown  you  with  peace  here  and 
win  for  you  the  eternal  heavenly  Crown — May  you  loved 
Jane  and  Joseph  keep  this  holy  highway  in  view — Your 
dear  Uncle  who  proposes  to  write  my  dr  Sophia  is  well  and 
I  think  I  have  not  seen  him  (John  Pease)  look  clearer  or  better, 
his  soup  and  2  large  glasses  of  wine  to  dinner  appears  to  suit 
him  well,  and  though  our  table  d'hote  here  to  which  about 
20  sit  down  has  some  delicacies  of  continental  cookery,  yet 
I  think  our  preference  to  a  joint,  a  pudding  and  a  tart  con 
tinues. 

Our  meetg  on  first  day  was  agreeably  held  about  30  present, 
and  Augustus  always  performed  his  interpreting  well — in 
the  aftnoon  we  had  a  solid  good  number  present  not  members 
— Yesterday  morng  commenced  the  family  visits,  we  got 
through  7 — this  morng  we  went  to  a  9  OClock  meetg  at 
Edenhausen  5  members  and  about  10  not  members  assembled 
— we  had  aimed  to  miss  the  heat  of  the  day,  and  perhaps 


398  EDWARD  PEASE. 

it  will  be  hotter  this  aft 'noon,  but  the  very  Gale  was  hot, 
and  the  thermor.  on  the  carg.  seat,  it  was  an  unopen  one,  was 
109 — that  garments  next  the  back  felt  like  sticking  plaster ! 
On  my  coming  to  this  house  I  thought  the  head  waiter 
looked  on  me  with  much  complasence,  and  after  a  while 
enquired  of  August  why  I  have  not  brought  my  Sister  (E  F) 
taking  me  for  S.  Gurney — Elizabeth  Fry  is  considered  to 
have  been  an  instrument  of  great  good  here — there  being  no 
poor  Laws  cases  of  neglect  and  distress  were  not  wanting, 
she  established  a  visiting  Ladies  committee,  and  now  that 
the  tenderness  of  some,  and  such  committees  becoming 
fashionable,  they  are  very  much  spread  in  the  country — We 
look  to  going  to  a  small  meetg  tomoro  (4  day)  morng  and 
hope  we  so  conclude  the  visit  to  families  here  as  to  able  to 
leave  for  Pyrmont  on  5  day  noon — frds  here  seem  now  settled 
and  I  hope  generally  making  a  liveliehood  which  was  not 
the  case  at  one  time  and  they  seemed  on  the  point  of  emigra 
ting  to  America,  but  this  we  have  not  heard  named,  there 
are  3  or  4  large  families  of  Childn — The  females  who  I  think 
generally  are  extraordinary  ordinary  looking,  wear  curious 
dresses,  I  mean  the  bourgeois,  and  farmers  wives,  a  full 
crimson  skirt  or  peticoat,  with  a  blue  apron  before,  the  front 
and  waste  of  some  tasteful  embroidered  work,  set  thick 
with  gilt  buttons  or  similar  ornaments,  the  cap  like  black 
cloth  fits  the  head  close,  some  gay  needle  work  on  it  with 
floating  Scarlet  Ribbons  from  each  side  of  it  whilst  its  plain 
forhead  part  is  arched  over  the  eye  brows,  and  a  pique  or 
pointed  peice  ending  in  quite  sharp  point  comes  down  between 
the  eyes — the  hair  much  in  quantity  is  often  beautifully 
platted — the  arms  are  bare  to  the  elbows — this  an  attempt 
at  a  description,  and  if  I  describe  the  frds  house  we  were  at 
this  forenoon  in  may  be  considered  the  model  only  differing 
in  size  of  the  general  farms  of  the  Country,— the  entrance 
is  large  enough  to  take  in  and  conveniently  hold  an  8  horse 
waggon — it  is  one  large  barn  54  feet  wide  81  feet  long,  on  each 
side,  are  the  domicile  of  horses,  Cows,  pigs  and  Goats,  above 
them  the  nests,  and  roosts  of  fowls  and  pigeons,  ducks  and 
Geese  enjoying  the  lower  story — towards  the  far  end  but 
not  fenced  of  is  the  pump  scullery  etc  and  then  fenced  of 


APPENDIX  XIII.  399 

with  windows  on  one  side  looking  into  this  Ark  and  on  the 
other  side  looking  into  the  Garden,  is  the  other  end  of  the 
barn — A  neat  little  meetg  house  was  near,  and  good  Counsel 
was  handed,  to  the  few,  the  females  were  remarkable  figures 
I  will  not  venture  to  describe  their  appearance. 

We  have  some  fears  of  getting  along  from  Pyrmont  to 
Cologne,  as  we  understand  the  King  of  Prussia  has  order 
70  horses  to  be  ready  here  on  2d  day  next  on  his  Route  to 
review  54,000  of  his  army  at  Cologne  next  week. 


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INDEX. 


ABBOTT,  John,  51. 

Abbot,  Sarah,  510,  5211,   196,  202. 

Aberdeen,  Lord,  327. 

Ackworth  School,  187,  259,  260,  283,  330. 

Addison,  Robert,  99. 

Adelaide  Pit,  270. 

Aggs,  Martha  Lucy,  274. 

Albright,  John,  154. 

Albright,  Nicholas,  154. 

Aldam,  William,  326. 

Alexander,  Ann,  267,  285. 

Alexander,  G.,  295. 

Alexander,  R.  and  D.,  267. 

Allan,  George,  84n. 

Allan,  John  and  Robert  H.,  177,  308. 

Allen,  Sarah,  133,  155. 

Allen,  William,  57,  72,  74,  115,  165,  374. 

Alnwick  Colliery,  90. 

Alsop,  Christine,  242n. 

American  Friends,  226,  228,  253. 

Amiens,  126. 

Anti-Slavery  Cause,  75,  82,  175. 

Arctic,  loss  of,  320. 

Arnett,  T.,  276. 

Arnold,  Dr.,  i62n. 

Ash,  Edward,  M.D.,  181,  269. 

Atherton  family,  21511. 

Atkinson,  John  and  Margaret,  131,  i8sn. 

Auckland  Mine,  152,  175. 

Auckland  and  Weardale   Railway,    198, 

199. 

Aylesbury,  209. 
Ayton  School,   107,   173,   178,   183,   184, 

189,    194,   201,   203,   227,   239,   291, 

304,  305,  325,  346. 

BACKHOUSE  family,  65,  73,  84,  89,  103, 
133,  136,   i8sn,  213,  303,  338,   346, 

Backhouse,  Edmund,  76,  230,  259,  262, 

285,   293,   300,   316,   338. 
Backhouse,  Edward,  62,  232. 
Backhouse    Frederick,  210. 
Backhouse,  Hannah  Chapman  (nee  Gur- 

ney).  Vide  Mrs.  Jonathan  Backhouse. 
Backhouse,  James,  199,     387. 
Backhouse,  Jane    G.,     201,     204.     Vide 

Mrs.    R.   Barclay   Fox. 
Backhouse,  John  Church  and  Anna  (nte 

Gurney),    200,    252,    264. 
Backhouse,  John    and    Katharine,    149, 

227,  287. 
Backhouse,  Jonathan   and   Mrs.    J.,    65, 

82,  98,  128,  134,  169,  171,  190,  198, 

199,   201,   207,   209,   264,   268,   281, 

282,    343. 
Backhouse,  Maria,  199;    Vide  Mrs.  Isaac 

Bigland. 


Backhouse,  Thomas,  209. 

Backhouse,  William,  202,  260. 

Bailey,  John,  391. 

Bainbridge,  Edward,  379. 

Ball,  Gawen,  156,  390. 

Ball,  Wm.  and  Ann,  181,  346. 

Baird,  Dr.,  146. 

Barclay  family,  73,  78,  i8sn,  2o7n,  237, 

238,   264,   303,   307,   318,   355. 
Barclay,  Abram  Rawhnson,  207. 
Barclay,  Emma  Lucy,  246. 
Barclay,  Henry,  272,  299. 
Barclay,  Jane  Mary,  237,  238. 
Barclay,  Jane,  78. 
Barclay,  John,  115,  207. 
Barclay,  Robert,  the  Apologist,    12,    31, 

269. 

Bardfield,  267. 
Barlow,  Ann,  282. 
Barnard  Castle  Railway,  317,  338. 
Barnard,  S.,  211. 
Bath,  Henry,  390. 
Beale,  Abraham,  244. 
Beaumont,  Elizabeth,  45,  158      (Mrs. 

Joseph  Pease,  of  Feethams). 
Beaumont,  Wm.,  313. 
Bedford,  Peter,  177,  229. 
Beezeley,  Samuel,  154. 
Bell,  J.  J.,  158. 
Bell,  John  Hyslop,  223,  391. 
Bell,  Mercy,  156. 
Bell,  Sheppard,  153. 
Benington  family  18511. 
Bevan,  J.  Gurney,  115. 
Bevan,  Dr.  Thomas    and    Hannah    (n6e 

Bennet),  240. 
Bewdley,  273. 
Bewley,  Ann,  332. 
Bewley,  Henry,  210. 
Bible    Society,    82,    117    et    seq.,    198, 

243. 

Bigland,  Isaac    and    Maria    (nte    Back 
house),  199. 
Birkbeck  family,  27n,  58,  200,  208, 

233n. 

Birkbeck,  Alice,  233. 
Birkbeck,  Henry,    233n,    241,    264,    377. 
Birkbeck,  Mary,  58. 
Birkenhead,  213. 
Birmingham  165,  254,  310. 
Booch,  Thomas,  321. 
Bootham  School,  York,  67,  143. 
Botcherby,  John,  217. 
Bousfield,  John,  45. 
Bowley,  Samuel,  286. 
Bowring,  Sir  John,  343. 
Bowron,  Ralph,  28on. 
Bowes,  — ,  178. 


4O2 


EDWARD  PEASE. 


Brady,  Jervas,  153. 

Bradshaw,  Anna,  46,  159,  (Mrs.  Joseph 
Pease,  of  Feethams). 

Bragg,  Hadwen  and  Margaret,  51,  54, 
57,  58,  62,  150,  165,  166,  172. 

Braithwaite,  family,  233n,  299. 

Braithwaite,  George,  51. 

Braithwaite,  J.  Bevan,  239,  339,  346. 

Bridgwater,  287. 

Bright,  John,  295,  327. 

Brindley,  Mr.,  84. 

Bristol,  181,  200,  207,  221,  237,  251, 
263,  278,  302. 

Broglie,  Due  de,  126. 

Brown,  Caleb,  194. 

Brown,  Isaac,  391. 

Brown,  John,  309. 

Brunswick,  Duke  of,  70. 

Broadhead,  Henry  and  Eliza  (nee  Back 
house),  133,  136. 

Brougham,  J.  Rigg,  i62n. 

Brus,  Robert  de,  2i5n. 

Bull  Wynd,  4sn. 

Buonaparte,  Josephine,  124. 

Burgess,  Thomas,  153. 

Burton,  Jas.,  242. 

Butler,  Mrs.  Theobald  (nee  Leatham), 
325n. 

Buxton,  T.  F.,  258. 

Buxton,  55. 

CALMADY-HAMLVN,   Vincent  Waldo  and 
Emma  Josephine  (nie  Pease),  33on. 
Capper,  Samuel,  207,  252,  388. 
Castelbajere,  Le,  Vte.  de,   122. 
Chalk,  Thomas,  252. 
Chapman,  Abel,  173. 
Chapman,  William,  85. 
Char  1  ton,  Robert,  310. 
Chartists,  151,  251,  256. 
Chelmsford,  266. 
Cholera,  272,   276,  306,  319. 
Church  Rates,  163. 
Church,  Sir  Richard,  252. 
Clapham  family,  131,  377. 
Clark,  Juliet,  264. 
Clarke,  D.   and   A.,    203. 
Clarkson,  Thomas,  370. 
Clay,  Joseph    and    Jane,  135,  220,  245. 
Clay,  Travis,  135. 

Cleveland,  Duke  of,  204,  243,     343. 
Coates  family,  44n,   149,  194,  206,  301. 
Cockin,  Richard,  152. 
Colchester,  267. 
Coleman,  Ann,  298,  299. 
Coggeshall,  174,  253. 
Coggeshall,  Eliza,  61. 
Collins,  Wm.,  153. 
Consett  Iron  Works,  296. 
Conyers  family,  2isn. 
Conybeare,  Rev.  J.  W.   E.,    i62n. 
Cook,  Charity,  226. 
Corbierre,  Le  Comte,  122. 
Corder,  S.,  284. 
Corder,  S.,  75. 
Corn  Laws,  187,  195. 
Cotherstone  133. 
Couldwell  family,  43n,  440. 
Crewdson,  family,  299,    340,    389. 
Crewdson,  Isaac,  161,  167. 
Crewdson,  Wilson  and  Margaret,  66,  246. 
Cropper,  James,  162,     189,    285. 
Cropper  family,  i62n. 
Cunningham,  Rev.  Francis  and  Richenda 
(nee  Gurney),  284. 


DALE,  Ann    Eliza,    171,    172,    218,    228, 

23on,    303,    319. 
Dale,    Sir    David,    i68n,    17 in,    2i8n, 

23on,    303,    321. 
Darlington,     45,    61,    84,    88,    91,    105, 

129,   144,   i72n,   178,  202,  213,  227, 

245,  281. 

Day,  Mahlon,  320. 
Deane,  M.  A.,  58. 
Denman,  Lord,  132. 
Deralois,  M.    Soyer,  126. 
Dilworth,  Sarah,  sin. 
Dixon,  family,  27gn,  28on. 
Dixon,  John,  87,  99,  261,  321. 
Dixon,  Ralph,  195,  279,  280. 
Dodshon  family,  307,  346. 
Dover,  69. 

Doyle,  Caroline,  343. 
Driver,  Rolles  and  Sarah,  180. 
Dublin,  164,  210. 
Dudley,  Mary,  56. 
Dumont,  Louis,  123. 
Dundas  family,  2isn. 
Dunmow,  267. 
Duobortisi,  the,  61. 
Dymond,  J.  J.,  265. 

EATON,  Jos.,  252. 
Eaton,  Robert,  391. 
Edinburgh,  170,  240,  297. 
Edmonds,  Thos.,  154. 
Ellis,  Bakewell,  153. 
Ellis,  Wm.,  272. 
Emlen,  S.,  210,  278. 
Essex,  meetings,  266,   267. 
Evans,  Thomas,  236. 

FARRAR,  243,  343. 

Fauconberge,  Lord.  2isn. 

Fell,  Jane,  46n. 

Fell,  John,  130,  154. 

Fell,  Mary    (Margaret),  79. 

Fell,  Richard     and     Mary,  i28n,  192, 

211. 
Flounders,  Benjamin,  54, 98,  205,  217,  228, 

260,  283. 
Forster  family,     259,     296,     298,     315, 

316,    333,    388. 
Forster,  Josiah  and  Rachel  (nee  Wilson), 

115,    116,   117,    177,  198,   259. 
Forster,  Robert  and  Rachel  (nee  Wilson), 

Forster, 'W.  E.,   M.P.,    n6n. 

Forster,  W.,    176,    241,    269,    284,    311, 

Ford,  John,  67,  143. 

Forth  Street  Works,  94,   147,   168,   213, 

217,   230,   238,   249,   261,    264,   274, 

303,  304,  323,  33i,  344- 
Fossick,  Sarah,  158    (Mrs.   J.   Beaumont 

Pease). 

Fothergill,  John,  187,  379. 
Fothergill,  Wm.,  259. 
Fowler,  family,  i8sn,  2i8n,  22in,  339, 346. 
Fowler,    John    218,  221,    and  Elizabeth 

Lucy  (nee  Pease),  339,  346. 
Fowler,  Robert  and  Rachel  (nee  Wilson), 

121,     125,     189,    2<>I,    222,    223H,    226, 
227,     346. 

Fowler,  Sir  Robert  N.,   193. 

Fox,  family,  204,  339,  342. 

Fox,  Alfred,  286. 

Fox,  Charles,    of   Trebah,  460. 

Fox,  Elizabeth  and  Charlotte,  181,  204. 

Fox,  George,  22,    31,    79. 


INDEX. 


403 


Fox,  George,  of  Cornwall,  193,  195. 

Fox,  George  Croker,  204. 

Fox,  Mary,  319.  Vide  Pease,  Lady, 
wife  of  Sir  Joseph  Whitwell  Pease. 

Fox,  Robert  Barclay  and  Jane  G.,  201, 
204,  207. 

Fox,  Silvanus,  262. 

Fox,  Theodore  and  Harriet  (nee  Kirk- 
bride),  284,  33on. 

Fry  family,  133,  328. 

Fry,  Sir  Edward,  i2gn. 

Fry,  Elizabeth,  56,  74,  77,  147,  165,  212, 
216,  388. 

Fry,  Francis    and    Matilda,  213. 

Fry,  Lewis,  M.P.,  i2gn. 

Fry,  Richard  and  Rachel  (nee  Pease), 
128,  130,  132,  133,  145,  155,  199, 
221,  244,  252,  279,  298,  302,  304, 
309,  328. 

Fry,  Sophia    (nee    Pease),  246. 

Fry,  Susan,  285. 

Fry,  W.,  1 80. 

Fryer,  Joseph    Jowett,  221. 

Fryer,  Rachel,  220. 

GARTHS,  family    of,  27. 
Gatenby,  Joseph,  128,  193,  217. 
Gibson,  Francis     and     Elizabeth      (nee 

Pease),    i2gn,    133,    241,    279,    291, 

3!9>    332,    345- 
Gibson,  G.    and    D.,  208. 
Gibson,  George  S.,  253. 
Gibson,  Jabez,  128. 
Gillet,  Jos.    A.,    154,  390. 
Gilpin,  Charles,  295. 
Girado,  Baron,  118. 
Grace,  Ann,  389. 
Grame,  Sir  Jas.,  194. 
Grant,  John,  154. 

Great  North  of  England  Railway,  176,  188. 
Great  Britain    steamship,    211. 
Green,  Priscilla,  333. 
Green,  Widow,   154. 

Grellet,  Stephen,  55,    57,    58,    338,    374. 
Grove  House  School,  272. 
Grubb,  S.,  74,   165. 
Guisbrough,  135  ;   rector,  178  ;    203,  245, 

286,  298,  300,  305,  307. 
Gurney,  Catherine,  283. 
Gurney,    Eliza    P.,    79,   264,    284,    323, 

330. 

Gurney,  Elizabeth,  2O7n. 
Gurney,  Emma.     Vide     Pease,      Joseph 

and  Emma. 
Gurney,  Jane,  233n. 
Gurney,  John,   of  Earlham,   78. 
Gurney,  Joseph    and    Jane    (nee    Chap 
man),  of  the  Grove,  54,  65,  66,  76, 

7gn,    i73n. 
Gurney,  Joseph   John,   of   Earlham,    18, 

2in,  22n,  55,  56,  78,  79,  i6sn,  169, 

170,    177,    180,    183,    189,   200,   203, 

208,   228,   235,   236,   238,   277,   278, 

284,    307,    327,    387. 
Gurney,  Rachel   (Mrs.   Richard  Gurney), 

of    Keswick,    2in. 
Gurney,  Richenda,  284n. 
Gurney,  Samuel,  75,  183,  284,  336,  337, 

338. 
Gurney's  Bank,  60. 

HACK  D.  Prior,    155,    180,    321 
Hadwen,  J.,  147. 
Halstead,  267. 
Ham  House,  77. 


Hare,  Samuel,  309. 

Harewood,  56. 

Harris  family,  i8sn. 

Harris,  John,   99,    133,   200. 

Hardy,  Heywood,  108. 

Harding,  Thomas,  296. 

Headlam,  27n. 

Henderson  family,  118,  361. 

Heron,  Ralph,  7in. 

Hewitson,  John,  206. 

Hitchin  Railway    bond,  345. 

Hodgkin,  John,  204,  216,  228,  239. 

Hollingsworth's  Bank,  103. 

Holme  family,  131. 

Hopkins,  John  Castell,  99. 

Horner,  Benjamin,  233. 

Home,  Haswell,  252. 

Horsnaill,  R.,  116. 

Howard,  E.,  320. 

Howard,  Luke,  54,    115,   389. 

Howard,  Robert,  315. 

Hows,  W.  T.,  154. 

Howson,  J.  S.,   162. 

Hudson,  Deborah,  i85n. 

Hudson,  Thomas  Jay,  36  et  seq. 

Hughes,—,  392. 

Huntley,  Joe,  392. 

Hustler,  John,  46,  63,   186,  274,  339. 

Hustler,  Mildred,  233,  274. 

Hustler,  Sarah,  61. 

Hutchinson,  Henry,  99. 

Hutchinson,  Jonathan,  6. 

Hutchinson,  Robert,  380. 

Hutchinson,  W.,  213,  303. 

Hutchinson  (historian),  45n. 

IANSON,  i8sn. 
Irish  famine,  249. 
Illustrated  London  News,  297. 

JACKSON,  Elizabeth,  137. 
Jackson,  Ward,  343. 

effrey,  R.,  276. 

obson,  A.,  309. 

ohnson,  Christopher,  319. 

ohnson,  Dr.  Samuel,  383  et  seq. 

ones,  Eli  and  Sybil,   304,   315. 

ones,  J.,  273. 

ones,  Rev.  W.,     1620. 

owett,  R.,  229. 

owitt  family,  i8sn. 

owitt,  Mary  Ann,  135. 

KEIFER,  Professor,    118,    120,    121. 

Keridal,  168,  245. 

Killingworth  Colliery,  86,  91. 

Kimber,  Thomas,  291. 

King,  James,  333. 

Kirkbride,  E.   P.,  170  i8sn,   (Mrs.  J.  J. 

Gurney),  180,  183. 
Kirkbride,  Harriet,  284,  Vide     Fox, 

Theodore. 

Kitching,  Alfred,  99. 
Kitching,  Deborah,  217. 
Kitching,  William,  285. 

LAMBERT,  MR.,  86. 

Langford,  Eleanor,  125. 

Law,  Robert,  379. 

Lean,  Joel,  392. 

Leather,  Mr.,  84. 

Leatham,  Albert,  272,     275,     278,     and 

Rachel   (nee   Pease),   292,   304,    317, 

328,    354    et    seq. 
Leatham,  Margaret,  275,  358. 
Leatham,  Rachel,  2i8n. 
Lecky,  Mary,  147. 


404 


EDWARD  PEASE. 


Leeds  Canal,  283. 
Lessart,  Baron  de,  126. 
Liddel,  — ,  132. 
Liverpool,  Lord,  116,  120. 
Liverpool,  199,  273,  283,  284. 
Longridge,  Michael,  95. 
Lowther  family,  215. 
Lunardi  (ballonist),  7in. 
Laseire,  De,   122. 
Lloyd  family,  381. 
Lloyd,  Jse.,  149. 

Lloyd,  Mary,  254,   Vide  Pease,  Mary. 
Lloyd,    Samuel    and    Rachel,    124,    136, 
165,    189,    207,    315. 

MACNAY,  Thomas,    99,  321. 

Majolier,  Lydia,  242. 

Malton,  263. 

Manchester,  273,  281,  283. 

Martin,  Henry,   134. 

Martin,  Simon,  377. 

Marske,    214,    231,    238,    243,    285,    296, 

3i7,  33i,  338. 
Mason,  George,  99. 
Mason,  Mary  Ann,   133. 
Masterman,  H.  263. 
Matheson,  Thos.,  162. 
Matthews,  William,  267,  279, 
Maude,  Anna,  135. 
Meeting  for  Sufferings,  115,  190,  278,  310, 

3I5- 

Melbourne,  Lord,  8  in. 
Melksham,  221,  222,  226. 
Melrose,  171. 
Messer,  Josiah,  51,  115. 
Metcalf,  Robert,  380. 
Mewburn,  Francis,  85,  97    et   seq.,    321. 
Meynell,  Mr.,  84,    98,    99,    103. 
Miller,  William,  297.     ' 
Middlesbrough,  83n,   137,   162  ;    pottery, 

I94n  ;   204,  205,   234,  304,  305,    308, 

319,377. 
Minden,  190. 
Minit,  — ,  121. 

Montmorency,  Due  de,  121,  122. 
Mounsey  family,  i8sn. 
Moyse,  Wm.,  389. 

NEVILL,  Thomas,  194. 

Neville,  Jos.,  287. 

Newcastle,  134,  136,  210,  218,  221,  248, 

320. 

Nichol,  Elizabeth  Pease,   223,    305,    306. 
North  of  England  Railway,  188. 
Northallerton,  138. 
Norwich,  49,   173,   208,   238,  259. 

OLDENBURGH,  Duchess  of,  57,  58. 

Oliver,  Daniel,  187. 

Ord,  S.,  220. 

Ornsby,  H.  W.,  99. 

Osmotherley,  139,  307. 

Overend,  John,  183. 

Overton,  Mr.,  98. 

Oxford  Movement,  155. 

Oxley,  Edward,  241. 

Oxley,  R.,  321. 

PALMERSTON,  Lord,  327,  343. 
Palmer,  Barbara,  147. 
Pardoes,  122. 
Paris,  117  et  seq. 
Parker,  Charles,  58. 
Patterson,  — ,  118. 
Payne,  Geo.,  154. 
Peacock,  Dr.  Bedoes,  159. 


Peacock,  John,  216. 

Peacock,  Robert,  379. 

Pease,  Alfred,  309. 

Pease,  Sir  Alfred  Edward,  345. 

Pease,  Arthur,  2i$n. 

Pease,  Claud  Edward,  2isn. 

Pease,  Edward,  family  history,  4311  ; 
birth,  44  ;  parents,  45  ;  education, 
46  ;  enters  business,  47  ;  recreations, 
48,  53  ;  marriage,  50 ;  an  Elder, 
54  ;  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  58  ; 
panic  of  1815,  60  ;  destruction 
of  Darlington  Mills,  61  ;  death  of 
children,  63,  64  ;  opposes  his  son's 
entry  to  Parliament,  65  ;  travels 
in  Wales,  68  ;  visits  Dover,  69  ; 
a  balloon  ascent,  71  ;  coronation 
of  1837,  71  ;  at  the  Grove,  Norwich, 
79  ;  hotel  bills,  80  ;  politics,  81  ; 
slavery,  82  ;  money  making,  83  ; 
first  railway,  83  et  seq.  ;  part 
nership  with  Stephenson,  87,  94  ; 
"  Neddie  Pease,"  88  ;  tree  planting, 
89  ;  the  Quaker's  Line,  89  ;  loyalty 
to  Darlington,  91  ;  firmness,  98  ; 
proposed  memorial,  99  et  seq.  ; 
Mewburn's  reminiscences,  103  ; 
Hollingsworth's  Bank  incident,  103  ; 
funeral  scenes,  105  ;  cheerfulness, 
106  ;  fatigue,  107  ;  last  days,  107  ; 
portrait,  108  ;  journals,  112;  be 
reavements,  113. 

Pease,  Edward,  Diaries,  etc.  Journey 
abroad,  115,  190;  in  Paris,  117,  et 
seq.  ;  Bible  Society,  121  ;  travels 
in  ministry,  128,  153-4,  166,  169  ; 
on  jury,  130,  167  ;  hospitality,  145  ; 
interest  in  Jamaica,  146  ;  church 
rates,  147,  163  ;  death  of  son  Edward, 
150  ;  Oxford  Movement,  155  ;  in 
Cumberland,  166  ;  in  Scotland,  170 
et  seq.  ;  slavery,  175  ;  Corn  Laws, 
J87,  195  ;  at  Birmingham,  189  ; 
the  Mills,  189  ;  opposes  Factory  Bill, 
194  ;  a  long  walk,  197  ;  revises  will, 
197  ;  Bible  Society,  198  ;  health 
drinking,  199  ;  total  abstinence 
cause,  201,  205  ;  accumulation  of 
wealth,  202  ;  pictures,  203  ;  Com 
mon  Prayer  Book,  214,  290 ;  at 
Marsk,  214  ;  deplores  speculations, 
217  ;  criticises  British  Friend,  218  ; 
trade  depression,  219,  247  ;  eightieth 
year,  220 ;  illness  and  death  of 
brother  Joseph,  222  et  seq.  ;  Darl 
ington  Meeting,  227  ;  birthright 
membership,  229  ;  a  trotting  match, 
230  ;  on  matrimony,  237  ;  grave, 
245  ;  Bank  collapse,  248  ;  Irish 
famine,  249  ;  Chartists,  251,  256  ; 
sits  for  portrait,  252  ;  David  Sands, 
255  ;  cholera,  263  ;  Quaker  caution, 
265  ;  in  Essex,  267  ;  Good  Friday, 
268,  328  ;  Barclay's  Apology,  269  ; 
grandson's  birthday,  270 ;  religious 
dissensions,  281  ;  total  abstinence, 
286,  290,  305,  346  ;  agricultural 
distress,  290  ;  Romanists,  291  ; 
loss  of  income,  292  ;  Magistracy, 
293  ;  pecuniary  losses,  294,  298  ; 
Great  Exhibition,  295  ;  in  Scotland, 
297,  318  ;  resignations,  299  ;  profit 
from  war  steamers,  303  ;  scarcity 
of  labour,  306  ;  Russian  war,  310, 
314,  320,  322,  323,  329,  331  ;  Skinner- 


INDEX. 


405 


gate  Schools,  312  ;  Reform  Bill, 
313  ;  grandson's  wedding,  318  ; 
Christmas  Day,  323  ;  Government 
crisis,  326,  327  ;  National  fast, 
327  ;  a  case  of  poisoning,  331  ; 
end  of  war,  335  ;  the  simple  language, 
336  ;  reflections  at  ninety,  341  ; 
testimonial,  343  ,  347  ;  Henry 
Pease's  election  for  South  Durham, 
343,  344  ;  Indian  Mutiny,  346  ; 
death,  348  ;  his  mother,  359,  360  ; 
account  books,  361,  362  ;  fruit 
trees,  365  ;  letter  from  Minden, 
394- 

Pease,  Edward  (son  of  Edward),  113, 
130,  132,  139,  140,  141,  148,  149, 
150,  155,  217,  286. 

Pease,  Edward  (grandson),  272,  273, 
330. 

Pease,  Elizabeth  (sister  of  Edward),  45, 
46,  63. 

Pease,  Elizabeth  (daughter  of  Edward), 
129,  vide  Gibson,  Mrs.  Francis. 

Pease,  Emma    (granddaughter),    78,    80. 

Pease,  Emma  Josephine  (afterwards 
Calmady-Hamlyn),  330. 

Pease,  Gurney  and  Katherine  (nee  Wil 
son),  145. 

Pease,  Henry  (son  of  Edward),  and 
Anna  ((nee  Fell),  128,  i2gn,  145,  146, 

150,  152,    174,    181,    190,   201,   211, 
212,   217,   228,   237,   241,   246,   248, 
252,   254,   310,   311,   312,   321,   335, 
34°.    343,    344,    345- 

Pease,  Henry  Fell,  M.P.,   128,   192,  228. 

Pease,  Isaac,  63,    64,    113,    155. 

Pease,  Jane  Gurney,  76,  77,  78. 

Pease,  John,  2in,  27,  53,  64,  74,  80,  loon, 
109,  128,  131,  135,  137,  148,  153, 
159,  162,  176,  189,  191,  192,  196, 

203,  205,  207n,  210,  212,  217,  220, 
244,  259,  267,  268,  280,  291,  306, 
310,  313,  321,  327,  346. 

Pease,    John   Beaumont,    158,  159,    258, 

313,  321. 

Pease,  John  Henry,  311,  314,  315. 
Pease,  Joseph,  of  Pease  Hall,  43n. 
Pease,  Joseph,  of  Feethams,  45,  46,  48, 

158,    193,    195,    223,    et    seq.,    227, 

336. 

Pease,  Joseph   A.,    27. 
Pease,  Joseph,    M.P.,    and    Emma,    64, 

65,   72,  73,  81,   106,   109,   137,   145, 

151,  153,    162,    163,    166,    172,    173, 
176,   179,   181,   188,   191,   192,   I93n, 
194,    198,    201,    204,    209,    212,    213, 
214,    217,    231,    232,    235,    238,    241, 
242,    243,    246,    248,    259,    262,    264, 
272,    275,    281,    283,    290,    294,    297, 
300,    301,    304,    305,    306,    308,    310, 
3r5,   3J7,   319,   32i,   325,   329,   33i, 
336,    338,    343,    377- 

Pease,  Sir  Joseph  Whitwell,  45n,  48n, 
67,  94,  143,  145,  155,  230,  245,  251, 
252,  263,  270,  272,  279,  299,  307, 
313,  316,  318,  319  ;  and  Mary 
nbe  Fox),  309,  320,  325,  330,  331, 
338,  345- 

Pease,  Martha  Lucy,  299. 

Pease,  Mary  (mother  of  Edward)  45,  263, 
329,  359,  360. 

Pease,  Mary  (sister  of  Edward),  45, 
46,  329. 

Pease,  Mary  (daughter  of  Edward),  63, 
113,  155,  286. 


Pease,  Mary     Beatrice,     Vide    Countess 

of     Portsmouth. 
Pease,  Mary  Lloyd  (Mrs.  Henry),  i2gn, 

254,    328. 
Pease,    Rachel    (nee   Whitwell),   wife   of 

Edward,   49,   50,    51,    52,    113,    114, 

132,    135,    136,    169,    196,    199,   241, 

271,  272,  286,  293,   321,  336,  340 ; 

her    accounts,    363. 
Pease,  Rachel     (daughter    of    Edward), 

128,     129,     130,     133.     Vide     Fry, 

Mrs.    Richard. 
Pease,  Rachel  (granddaughter),  272,  275, 

278,    292,    354    et    seq.      Vide    Mrs' 

Albert  Leatham. 

Pease,  Sophia,  181,  191,  227,  244,  246,  273. 
Pease,  Thomas    and    family,     194,     195, 

229,   262,   272,   274,   279,   299. 
Pease,  William,  199. 
Pease  family,  2n,  430,  45n,  46,  158,  180, 

i8sn,  204,  2i8n,  255,  264,  305,  311, 

314, 326, 328, 329,  339,  355,  358,  359. 
Peel,  Sir  Robert,  8in,  219,  230,  245,  283. 
Penington,  Isaac,  20. 
Penn,  William,  31. 
Pennett  family,  i8on. 
Penney,  George,   i8rn. 
Pennyman,  Sir  Wm.,  2isn. 
Peto,  — ,  242. 

Pike  family,   137,  I38n,  210,  332. 
Plews,  Nathan,   104. 
Polam  Hall,  300,  309,  340. 
Poole,  181. 

Portsmouth,  Countess  of,  273. 
Pounder,  Mary  and  Sarah,  193. 
Preston,  220. 

Price,  Anna  and  family,  68,  156. 
Price,  Catharine,   115. 
Price,  Joseph,  390. 
Priestman  family,  303. 
Priestman,  Ann  and  Esther,  263. 
Priestman,  J.  and  R.,  150,  166,  303,  317, 

318. 

Proctor,  John  R.,  241. 
Procter,  Misses,  309,  322,  340. 
Prussia,  King  of,  187. 
Plymouth  Brethren,   156,  i62n. 
Pumphrey,  Thomas,   187,  259.  333. 

QUAKERISM,  i  ;  the  Trinity  6  ; 
inward  light  7,  n  ;  immortality, 
9  ;  conduct,  10 ;  the  Scriptures, 
ii  ;  ministry,  12  ;  worship,  14  ; 
ordinances,  15  ;  civil  government, 

19  ;    war,  20,    Appendix    I.  ;     dress, 

20  ;     speech,    22  ;     hat    testimony, 
23,  4gn  ;  marriage,  26,  Appendix  II.; 
funerals,      27  ;       occupations,       28  ; 
the  poor,  29  ;    music,  30  ;    dancing 
and    sports,     31  ;      discipline,     32  ; 
decline,   34  ;    austerity,   35  ;    evolu 
tion  of,  39  ;   "  Public  Meetings,"  131  ; 
"  Presentations,"    i33n  ;    perfection, 
141  ;       testimony,      167  ;      wedding 
rings,     i72n  ;     simplicity    of,    260  : 
queries,    i87n  ;      Dr.    Johnson,    383 
et  seq. 

Quakerieties,  389. 
Quimper,  Bishop  of,  119. 

RABY   Castle,  243. 

Railway,  first,  83  et  seq.,  97,   176,  315. 

Raisbeck,  Mr.,  85. 

Redcar,  290,  294. 

Redwood,  Isaac,  392. 


4o6 


EDWARD  PEASE. 


Rees,  Jonathan,  392. 
Rennie,  John,  84. 
Reynolds,  Jane,  154. 
Rhodes,  Samuel  and  Ann,  202,  243. 
Richardson  family,    44,    89,    136,    i8on, 
228,  241,  255,  259,  299,  313,  32gn, 

331.  359- 

Richardson,  Caroline,  317. 
Richardson,  David,  383. 
Richardson,  Henry,   175,  263. 
Richardson,  Isaac,   175. 
Richardson,  Jonathan,  244. 
Richardson,  Lydia,  241. 
Richardson,    Mary,    Vide   Pease,    Mary 

(mother  of  Edward). 
Richardson,  Thomas     and     Martha,  86, 

95.    153,    173.    l83n>   184,   200,   213, 

227,   228,   235,   238,   242,   262,   276, 

291,  304,  306,  313,  336,  377. 
Richardson,  William,  186. 
Rickman,  Nathaniel,  58,  59,  60. 
Rickman,  Mary,  59,  60. 
Rickman,  William,  116. 
Ring,  Cath.,  255. 
Roberts  John,   141  et  seq. 
Robson,  Anne  Backhouse,  135,  168  (vide 

Mrs.     Henry     Whitwell     and     Mrs. 

David    Dale). 
Robson,  Eliza,  147,  199. 
Robson,  N.,  221. 
Robson,  Rachel,  I44n. 
Robinson,  Gervas,  129. 
Rochester,  116. 
Rodeymoor,  242. 
Rose,  George,  165. 
Rothschild,  — ,  281. 
Russell,  Lord   John,   72,   219,   230,   291, 

326,  327. 
Russia,  Emperor  of,  57    et    seq.,    310    et 

seq.,  327,  340,  367  et  seq. 
Rutty,  Katherine,  222. 

SAFFRON  WALDEN,  78,  129,  156,  165,  174, 

253,  290,  302. 
Sams,  Joseph,  260. 
Sands,  David,  46n,  255. 
Sanders,  Jos.,  135. 
Satterthwaite,  Michael,  220. 
Scattergood,  Thomas,  211. 
Seaton,    163,    167,    168,    177,    184,    iSsn, 

195,  197- 

Seebohm,  Louise,  194. 
Sewel's  History,  5,  207. 
Seymour,  Admiral,  343. 
Sharp,  Isaac,  269,  293,  346,  355. 
Shildon  Tunnel,  188. 
Shillitoe,  Thomas,  115,  116,  120,  207. 
Shout,  Major,  191. 
Sidmouth,  Earl,  62. 
Smales,  Francis,  103. 
Smelt   House,    198,    275. 
Smiles,  Samuel,  quoted,  83,    87    et   seq., 

105,    107,   320. 

Smith  family,  i8on,   187,  201,  286,  389. 
Smith,  Henry  Pascoe,  327. 
Smith,  Joseph,  51,  267. 
Smith,  Sir  S.,  118. 
Snowden,  Thomas,  99. 
Southampton,  169,  180. 
Sparks,  Joseph,  309. 
Squire,  Thos.,  154. 
Stael,  Baron  de,  126,  223. 
Stacey,  G.   and   M.,    58,    180,    241,   342. 
Stacey,  R.,  266. 
Staindrop,  194,  279. 


Staithes,  260. 
Stapner,  121. 
Stephenson,  George,  83,  86  et  seq.  ; 

letter  from,  91  ;  97,  213,  261,  264,  321. 
Stephenson,  Isaac,  54. 
Stephenson,  J.,  263. 
Stephenson,  Robert,  95,     96,     97,     213, 

221,   230,   261,   264,   303,   304,   321, 

322,   331,   344. 
Stow,  Harriet  Beecher,  305. 
Stockton,    83,    et    seq.,    131,    172,    180, 

215,    307. 
Stockton    and   Darlington    Railway,    88, 

89  et  seq.,  205,  215,  275,  277,  290, 

292,    294,    298,    305,    317,    322. 
St.  Helens,  130. 
Sturge,  Joseph,  295,  310. 
Sturge,  Sarah   (afterwards  Mrs.  Edward 

Pease),   272n,   273. 
Surtees,  family  of,  27n. 
Sussex,  Duke  of,  137. 
Swet,  Mary,  226. 
Sykes'  Records,  90. 

TANNER,  W.,  252. 

Tapton   House,   261. 

Tatham,  Joseph,  457. 

Tennant,  C.,  84. 

Thorpe,  Abigail,  128,  144,  193. 

Thompson,  Robert,  99,  300. 

Thompson,  Silvanus,   144. 

Thompson,  William,  300. 

Tonnerre,  Count  Severin,  122. 

Tornoux,  — ,  122,  123. 

Total    Abstinence,  205. 

Tottenham,  208,  241,  266. 

Toulmin,  P.,  213. 

Tuckett,  Francis,  207. 

Tuke,  S.  and  family,  208,  347,  387. 

Tweedy,  Ann,  388. 

UNTHANK,  Joseph,  175. 

VANE,  Lord  Henry,  178,  179,  243, 
313  ;  and  Lady,  333,  343. 

Ventress,  Sarah,  193. 

Versailles,  124,  125. 

Vickers,  Jas.,  257. 

Victoria,  Queen,  coronation,  71  et  seq., 
130,  162,  190,  269,  276. 

Villele,  — ,  123. 

Villeneuve,  — ,  126. 

Violette,  Jas.,  118. 

WADE,  James,  379- 

Wakefield  family,  i62n,  222. 

Walker,  Elizabeth,  115. 

Walker,  Robert,  233. 

Waring,  Charles,  68. 

Waterhouse,  Mary,  340. 

Weardale  Railway,  198,  199. 

Weelans,  W.,  331. 

Weston,  R.  L.,  116. 

Wheeler,  Daniel,   147,  207. 

White,  Hannah,  329. 

Whiting,  Samuel,  154. 

Whitwell  family,  51,  135,  168,  232,  246, 

264,  291,   299,   328;   355. 
Whitwell,  Henry    and    Anna,  168,    209, 

23°,   255. 
Whitwell,    Rachel.     Vide   Pease,   Rachel 

(wife  of  Edward  Pease). 
Whitworth,  Mr.,  84. 
Wigham,  Anthony,  318. 
Wigham,  Cuthbert,  329. 


INDEX. 


407 


Wigham,  Sarah  Jane,  299. 

Wigton,  1 66. 

Wilbur,  John,  207. 

Wilkinson,  John,  57,  154,  374. 

Wilks,  Mark,  izi,  126. 

Willink,  Rev.  Arthur,  i62n. 

Wilson  family,  131,  135,  145,  167,  I96n, 

200,   222,   299,   355. 
Wilson,  Caleb,  65. 
Wilson,  Isaac,  99,  194. 
Wilson,  John,  sin,  145,  246. 
Wilson,  Sarah,  2isn. 
Windsor,  56. 
Winyard,  262. 


Wishart,  Dr.,  148. 
Woburn  Sands,  259. 
Wood,  Nicholas,  86,  92. 
Wright,  Francis,  i62n. 
Wright,  James  Ireland,  388. 
Wurtz,  printer,  126. 

YARM,    205,   217. 

Yearly  Meetings,  73,  128,  129,  164,  165, 

190,   195,  210,  211,   228,  241,   259, 

269,   282,   293,  295, 
York,    Retreat,    198,    242. 

ZETLAND,  Earl  of,  2isn,  296. 


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